Dinosaur Liberation Association
by vinny2
Summary: Sequel to Corruption. Stephanie Maximoff has just been kidnapped by a group known as the DLA. But after an investigation, Stephanie finds out that DLA leader, Dalton Furrelle, has an ulterior motive and may have made a deal with a genocidal maniac to do it.
1. Robbery

Disclaimer: I don't own Isla Sorna, but for those who have read Corruption know very well that I own all of the characters.

"**No one changes the world who isn't obsessed."**

**- Billie Jean King**

Chapter 1: Robbery

**Parking Lot**

Dimitri groaned in a combination of disappointment and anger as he stepped out of his Toyota in the Governor's Mansion parking lot. It had been roughly a year since his adventure on Isla Sorna and it left him with a short fuse, a fuse that was constantly being lit. Andrew Rayburn was spray painting the wall again.

Dimitri walked over to him and tapped him the shoulder. "Hey governor's kid," Andrew said with a chuckle as he continued to spray paint the wall. Andrew considered Dimitri his friend, but Dimitri didn't feel the same. Andrew was still a junior at Adams High School and wasn't popular by any stretch. Andrew says it's just because he's black, but it was obvious he had other demeaning qualities.

"Andrew," Dimitri said, "We go through this everyday. Go away and I promise I won't call the police, and don't think I'm going to be lenient on you just because we're friends, because we're not even close."

"Governor's kid," Andrew said, "Give me a minute while I finish my mural and maybe I'll consider leaving. How's about that?"

"That's not exactly going to work for me," Dimitri replied. "So, what non-denominational organization are you blindly following today, Andrew?"

Andrew didn't have to answer. He had finished his picture. It was peace sign with random dinosaurs around it with the words _Dinosaur Liberation Association _written on top.

"Leave," Dimitri ordered. "Now."

**Gibson Apartment**

"3675 Fowler Ave. Apt. 367," Max said to himself as he continued to hang his clothing in the closet. "At long last, my dream has become a reality!" After his father's "death", Max was put in the foster care system, but Stephanie quickly took it upon herself to take him in until he turned eighteen. Max tuned eighteen only the month before and the Maximoff family was more than happy to help him find an apartment. Erik even volunteered to help him pay the rent.

"Damn it," Max said. "I'm out of hangers. I'm sure Benji has some I can borrow." Max waltzed over to the phone and dialed in Benji's cell phone number, knowing that Benji only went home to sleep. After a few rings, Benji finally answered.

"Max," Benji groaned. "Not that I don't appreciate your company, but I'm sort of busy. In case you haven't noticed, I'm the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, which means I have more important things to do than talk with you."

"I'm sure," Max replied, "And I'm going to go ahead and guess that you either in D.C. with Eddie or in New York with Maureen. An I right or am I right?"

"New York," Benji grumbled back, "but for your information, I'm not with Maureen anymore. We broke up a week ago. It's actually good for me because now I can devote more time in figuring out who this Piper woman is."

"Face it," Max said. "My father is dead. My sister is dead. Alex Amadore is dead. Linda Krueger moved to Georgia. You're pretty much going this alone. I say that since Piper hasn't reared her ugly head since last year we should just let sleeping dogs lie."

"You go ahead and give up," Benji replied, "but I just can't let it go. See ya!"

Benji hung the phone, only for Max to realize his mistake. "Damn it. I forgot to ask about the hangers!"

**Governor's Office**

Stephanie Maximoff glanced at her phone as it rang. Her husband stood across the room in silence. "Answer it," he finally said.

"Answer it?" Stephanie asked. "Answer it? That's the best advice you can give me? You and I know very well who's on the other line. You're my chief of staff. That means I go to you for advice and the best thing you have is to answer it?"

Stephanie's husband Erik Maximoff was no longer the professor of paleontology at the University of Maryland. When Stephanie took office, Benji suggested an old friend of his, Mark Ramirez, for her Chief of Staff. Mark proved to be even more incompetent than Benji. In the two months that Mark held office, Stephanie realized that most of her good advice came from her husband. Stephanie fired Mark and gave the position to Erik.

"If you don't answer it, they'll just call back, and they're going to keep on calling until you change your mind about the InGen islands."

"My mind's been made up," Stephanie replied. "After what happened last year, I can't think of a single reason why the InGen islands should be granted extra life. John Hammond has already sign off on the island. They belong to the government. They should be destroyed by now except some group calling themselves the DLA have decided that dinosaurs have just as much right to live as any other animal. They seem to have convinced a lot of people. Each time I send the bill to Congress, it's shot down."

"I'm still not so sure," Erik replied, pleased to hear that the phone had stopped ringing. "How can we fight an organization if we're not even sure it exists?'

"Whether or not it exists isn't the point," Dimitri said as he walked through the front doors. "People believe they do and that's good enough. I just caught Andrew Rayburn spray painting the wall with the DLA emblem. It's growing fast."

"I'm still not convinced," Erik replied.

"So what exactly do you propose, dad?" Dimitri asked.

"I just wish that the DLA would do something that actually proved their existence."

**Van **

Dalton Furrelle pulled the van up to the curb and put the car keys in the glove compartment. He glanced at his passenger, Lance Savarin, who nodded in agreement. The duo wrapped masks over their eyes with the same camouflage pattern as their clothing. Dalton had dark hair and was fairly tall. Lance was blond and was about four inches shorter than Dalton.

"Ready?" Dalton asked as he picked up his suitcase from the backseat.

"Not like I have much of a choice," Lance replied. "It's either now or never." Dalton nodded and proceeded to exit the car. Lance followed. The duo ignored remarks and stares from random people on the street as they continued to walk down the block.

Dalton and Lance arrived at their destination. "1st National Back of Maryland," Lance said with a smile. "Did I ever tell you the story of how the teller refused to cash my check just because I followed her home a few times? This could be a very good opportunity to show her how I feel about that."

"Fine," Dalton said. "Just remember that if you do anything to hinder my chances of completing my mission, I will hold you personally responsible and I will make it my new personal goal to destroy you."

"Good to know," Lance replied. Dalton and Lance walked through the front doors and stopped about halfway between the doors and the counters. The duo opened their suitcases and pulled out AK-47 and began to fired the rapidly into the air.

The two stopped as Dalton said, "I want Governor Stephanie Maximoff right here, within the hour or else people will begin to die."


	2. Pick a Number

Chapter 2: Pick a Number

**Governor's Office**

Stephanie, Dimitri, and Erik Maximoff stared at the big screen television on the office wall. Almost every channel was covering the robbery that began ten minutes prior; and while all the channels had his or her take on the robbery, there was one piece of information that was constantly repeated.

"They're asking for me," Stephanie said ominously.

"They're insane," Dimitri assured. "Whether or not they're actually DLA, they're not bulletproof. FBI will take them down just like any other bank robbers."

"I can't take that risk," Stephanie replied. "I can't let anyone die because I was cooped up in my office the whole time. That's something Henry Gibson would have done."

Erik agreed with his son. "Gibson may have been a despicable liar, but he was an excellent governor. I say we take a page from his book, just this one time at least."

Stephanie was clearly no longer listening to the advice of her chief of staff as she was already taking her coat off of the coat rack. Erik and Dimitri followed her down into the parking lot pleading for her to stay at the governor's mansion. Still, Stephanie stood her ground. "I need one of you to stay back and try to contact Benji."

"I'll stay," Erik volunteered. "But you're going to have to promise me that you'll come back in one piece. Okay?" Stephanie smiled and nodded. Erik smiled back and gave his wife a kiss before retuning to the building.

Stephanie and Dimitri entered the limo. "1st National Bank of Maryland," Stephanie ordered. "Immediately."

**Sutter House**

Darren Sutter, a 42-year-old computer technician, sat in the living room watching the newscast of the ongoing standoff at the bank in Annapolis. Darren lived in Bethesda, Maryland, only about half an hour out of the capital with his wife, Marilyn.

Marilyn joined her husband in the living room. "Do we have to watch this?" she asked. "It's really depressing. The only thing that's going to happen is that they're going to execute hostages, and I would rather not have that on my mind all day."

Darren ignored his wife. "Darren?"

"We have three televisions in the house, Marilyn," Darren reminded his wife. "If you find this so appalling, then you are free to watch one of the many other televisions in the house." Marilyn smiled before walking upstairs.

Darren continued to watch the robbery in action. The reporter came back on. "If you're just joining us, we are currently in the middle of a standoff between the FBI and two bank robbers claiming to be members of the mysterious organization known as the Dinosaur Liberation Association. The robbers have made no attempt at disguising their identities and have made sure that everyone knew who they were: Dalton Furrelle and Lance Savarin."

Darren stood up and walked towards the window. He was getting bored hearing the same thing over and over again. Dalton and Lance were skillfully evading every trap the FBI put up. The reporter stopped talking.

Darren walked back to the couch. The reporter was listening to his earpiece. Finally, the reporter turned back top the camera. "I've just gotten word that Governor Stephanie Maximoff is on her way to the bank right now. FBI agents have advised her not to come, saying that it gives the robbers a sense of triumph, but Governor Maximoff has ignored all requests."

Darren was now putting all of his attention on the television. "Maximoff," he whispered to himself. "Now it's getting interesting."

**Café**

Benji Madison took another sip from his cup of coffee as the man in a suit sitting across from him glanced at his watch impatiently. The man across the table from Benji was Special Agent Eddie Harold.

Along with Erik, Stephanie, Linda Krueger, and a handful of other FBI agents, Eddie was one of the only people with the knowledge of Henry Gibson's survival. Eddie always had a sense of adventure and was initially disappointed to learn that he was put on babysitting duty for the former governor.

That's when Benji Madison came into the picture. When he explained everything about "Piper," Eddie was ecstatic to get out of the basement, but after almost a year, they hadn't found anything of importance.

In addition, Benji had been shirking his responsibilities as the lieutenant governor and only by the repetitive pleas of Erik Maximoff was Benji still able to hold the position, especially seeing how he spent most of his time out of state.

"Can we go now?" Eddie asked. "I have Max Gibson on hold. He says that Erik needs you back in Maryland right now."

"Why should I listen to the kid again?"

"He's Stephanie's personal assistant." Eddie reminded. Max went into therapy after he learned of his sister's death, but his therapist reported only a week later that "Max is surprisingly in good health, both mentally and physically." Max spent most of his time at Stephanie's office, and Erik said that if he wanted to stay, he would have to work. Eventually, Stephanie hired Max as her assistant, provided he registered Republican.

"Give me the phone," Benji ordered. Eddie handed him the phone. "Max," Benji began. "What's so important that you have to interrupt me again? I'm in New York. It'll take me at least an hour to get back so this better be important."

"Trust me," Max replied. "This is important. Erik's calling me in an hour early to help as well. Some lunatics are robbing the bank and are asking for Stephanie, and what's worse is that she's actually complying. Erik hopes that if we can get you in office it'll calm the people down. Hell, I'll settle for in the state."

"Stephanie's a big girl," Benji said. "She can take care of herself. Call Erik back and tell him that I sympathize, but no dice. I have a genocidal maniac to catch." Benji hung up before Max could respond."

Eddie gave Benji a look. "What?" Benji asked unknowingly.

"What do you mean what?" Eddie asked in reply. "In our year of investigation, we have found nothing, and I don't mean that figuratively. I seriously mean that it's as if our Piper doesn't exist. You really need to get back to Maryland."

Benji seemed torn in his decision. "Tell you what," Eddie replied. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll continue the search here in the Big Apple, but you need to get back to Maryland now." Benji sighed, knowing that Eddie was right.

"Fine," he said. "But I'm taking the Volvo."

**Bank**

Dalton watched as Lance checked the last of the security guards forbidden weapons. Lance pushed him into a corner with the other guards. "Now?" Lance asked. Dalton nodded. "All right," Lance ordered to the other captives. "I'm going to need all of you to separate into three groups: security guards on the left wall, employees along the north wall, and customers on the left wall."

The captives did as they were told. "Good," Dalton began. "Now I think it's time for a little game. Lance, I'm going to assign each section a number between one and ten, one of them will kill have of that group and the other will release half of them."

The phone on the counter began to ring. "What do you know," Dalton said. "Our first contestant is on the phone right now."

Dalton knew it was the same FBI negotiator who had been calling him for the last half an hour. "Emily, right?" Dalton asked. "I have some good news for you. I have a little game for you. Pick a number between one and ten. I know you know the rules. I know the bank's wired."

"No," Emily replied. "I refuse to be a part of your sick game, Dalton. Stephanie Maximoff is one her way here. I may be able to get her to talk to you if you release some hostages."

"You know the rules," Dalton repeated. "Pick a number between one and ten an perhaps you'll get your wish." There was a pause from the other end.

Emily finally came back on. "If I guess a number, do you promise to keep your number policy and release hostages if I guess correctly?"

"Promise," Dalton said. "And to quench your fears, I've written down the number system piece of paper which I will give to a hostage as soon as they exit. Good?"

Emily once again paused before responding. "Fine. Five."

Dalton relayed the answer to Lance, who smiled. "Five was it?" Dalton began to point to all three of the groups, prolonging their freight. "Five," he repeated. Dalton checked the list. "Five corresponds to the employees. No let me just double check to make sure what I'm going to do to half of them."

"Well," Dalton said. "It would appear that half of the employees won't be seeing any of their families for a while." The hostages gasped in horror. "Because," Dalton continued, "The other half will be leaving now." The employees sighed in relief.

"Women and children only," Dalton ordered Lance. Lance obeyed and released half of the employees that fit Dalton's description. The other hostages sighed in utter disappointment. They knew that their chances of leaving alive had just decreased dramatically.

Dalton returned to his conversation with Emily. "Congratulations for completing the first round of my game without any casualties." Dalton mocked. "I hope you call back soon to play round two." Dalton hung up the phone before Emily could respond.

"Is the good governor coming," Lance asked.

"She will," Dalton assured his associate. "If I know Governor Maximoff, she won't let people of Maryland suffer on her account. She'll be here."


	3. Dalton Furrelle's Ultimatum

Chapter 3: Dalton Furrelle's Ultimatum

**Barricade**

Stephanie Maximoff's limo pulled up the police barricade that surrounded the bank. Stephanie stepped out before the limo even came to a complete stop. Dimitri soon followed. Stephanie walked over to a group of police officers while Dimitri stopped as he saw Andrew Rayburn in the crowd.

Dimitri stormed over to him. "Governor's kid," he remarked. "I'm sure even you can figure out why I'm here."

"I really wish I didn't," Dimitri replied. "I can't believe that you're still following a group that's a robbing a bank." Andrew only smiled and shrugged. Dimitri opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped by his cell phone.

Dimitri walked away and answered it. "Dimitri!" came Janet Korvoloski's scared voice. "Do you have any idea what's going on over here? It's crazy. I guarantee that it beats out anything that ever happened in Maryland while I lived there."

Janet Korvoloski had moved to Chicago only three months after her adventure on Isla Sorna. She was offered a position at Cowain, Swain, & Ross, where she worked as an intern while she continued her law studies there. She continued to keep in contact with Dimitri and promised to visit as much as possible.

"I could probably take a wild guess," Dimitri said. "Is the DLA robbing a bank and asking for the governor."

"No," Janet replied. "Some group called the DLA is robbing a--wait. How'd you know?"

"It's happening here too," Dimitri replied. "They seem like professionals and I fear that they might actually start executing hostages of my mother doesn't go in there."

"Really?" Janet asked. She seemed seriously shocked. "That doesn't seem to make any since to me. The thieves at my bank we're taken down in a matter of minutes. I got a call from Ashley Howard saying that the robbers in Arizona gave themselves up to the security guards even before the police got there. Mitchell Blake was a hostage in Alaska and said that the robbers had put their guns down until police got there."

"So there's something special about the one here then," Dimitri assumed. "Janet, I'm going to have to call you back. I have got to tell my mom."

**FBI Headquarters**

Eddie Harold wasn't actually going to continue to try and find leads on Piper Norvell if he knew that he wasn't going to find anything. He had only suggested going to New York because he heard they made the best pizzas.

With Benji gone, he was free to return to the FBI headquarters in Washington DC without anyone really caring. Eddie walked across the rooms over to his office. Eddie wasted no time in tossing his jacket over his desk and resting his feet on the desk.

Eddie picked up the remote control for the television but dropped it in surprise as the door swung open. "What are you doing back?" asked Dana, a fellow FBI agent. "If you're not with Mr. Madison, then you should be at the bunker."

"In case you haven't realized it," Eddie said as he picked himself up. "The former governor isn't going anywhere. I think I can trust the security we've down there. Is there any other reason you disrupting me during my break."

"Yeah," she replied. "I got a call from a Ramon Avila. He was asking specifically for you. He left a number for you to call back." Dana handed the sheet of paper with the phone number on it to Eddie.

Dana was a bout to say something else, but her cell phone pulled her away. Eddie stared at the phone number, and then at the phone n his desk. "Nah," Eddie finally decided as he pocketed the sheet of paper. "It's probably not worth my time."

**Sutter House**

Darren Sutter hadn't taken his eyes of the television since Stephanie Maximoff had arrived onto the scene, but he was still hoping on seeing someone else. The FBI hadn't tried to contact Dalton since his little game and Dalton had made another move.

It was a tense standoff, but a boring one at that.

Finally, the FBI agents outside seemed to have come to an agreement. Darren listened intently as the reporter relayed everything that was going on at the bank. "From what I've heard, it appears that the FBI are going to try and call one more time, but are going to avoid playing Dalton's game as much as possible."

Darren ignored the reporter as watched the woman Emily called the bank. She began to speak, but her words were inaudible. She seemed to be interrupted. She resumed talking again, only for Dalton to hang up.

The FBI's plan had clearly failed. Stephanie Maximoff returned on screen and began to speak with Emily. "I'm getting new information," the reporter said. "On advise from Governor Stephanie Maximoff, the FBI will call again and play Dalton's game. I may be editorializing here, but I have no idea how this going benefit us out here."

Darren agreed and for once, took his eyes off the television. "Marilyn!" he called to his wife upstairs. "I'm, heading into work early!" His wife didn't respond, but he knew she had hard him.

Darren grabbed his jacket and turned the television off before exiting the house. Darren slid into the driver's seat and taking out his cell phone. He turned the car on as he dialed a number.

"Hello?" came a voice at the other end.

"Yes," Darren began as he pulled out of the driveway. "This is Darren Sutter. I'm calling on behalf of my company, Bell Industries."

"Yes Mr. Sutter," the other voice calmly replied. "What can I do for you today?"

"I need a boat," he said proudly. "A fast one."

**Bank**

Lance was getting impatient. He was hoping to have been long gone half an hour ago. To him, Dalton's patience was almost inhuman. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the phone on the desk began to ring again.

Dalton answered it. "Emily," he began calmly. "I hope you've called for what I think you've called for, because I can't leave without finishing my game and I can't finish my game without a contestant."

"Seven," Emily interrupted. Dalton was shocked at Emily's direct answer. Dalton put the phone down and asked what seven corresponded to.

Lance walked over to Dalton and whispered, "Seven means that we release half of the customers, but if we do that, we don't get anywhere. The governor isn't stupid."

"I know," Dalton whispered in reply. "I know what to do." Dalton picked the phone back up. "After checking my list, it would appear that seven correspond to the customers, but you might not like the next part, and neither will half of the customers. They are going to die."

The atmosphere in the bank suddenly changed to fright and shock and so did the air at the police barricade. Dalton motioned to Lance, who cocked his gun.

"Wait!" came Stephanie's voice. "Don't kill anyone. I'll go in." Dalton smiled and hung up the phone. Dalton and Lance watched as Stephanie, against the orders of FBI agents approached the bank doors. Stephanie opened the door and walked towards the center of the room.

"Leave," Dalton ordered all the other hostages. The hostages were so full of shock and confusion that many of them stayed were they were.

"You heard the man!" Lance yelled. "Leave before he changes his mind!" That time, the hostages complied and within the minute, the bank was empty except for Dalton, lance, and Governor Stephanie Maximoff.

"Governor Maximoff," Dalton began. "I hope you enjoyed field trips as a child, because we're about to take one to an island I'm sure you're very much acquainted with. Isla Sorna."


	4. Goodbye Maryland

Chapter 4: Goodbye Maryland

**Governor's Office**

Erik Maximoff was losing his mind. His wife had just entered the bank and neither of them had any idea when and if she was coming out. To make matters worse, both Benji and Max were late. After about another minute of anguish, Max came through the doors.

"I am so sorry I'm late," Max explained. "Apparently, the police don't care if you're trying to stop a political disaster. Speaking of which, please tell me that Stephanie didn't actually enter that bank."

"Check the screen yourself," Erik said as he pointed to the big-screen. There was the proof. The reporter wouldn't stop talking about it. The FBI was clearly unsure of their next step. "This isn't good. No one knows what to do. The only people on top of things are Dalton Furrelle and Lance Savarin. We're losing this."

"You're losing it," Benji corrected as he came through the doors. "You really shouldn't be here. I suggest you go down to the bank or go home. You're no help here. Max and I will take over."

"No offence," Erik replied sternly, "but you ad Max aren't really known for your reliability. I should stay, at least until Stephanie gets back."

Max had stopped listening in on the conversation. He was intently watching the television. The reporter was now standing next to Emily, who was standing next to Dimitri. Dimitri asked for the phone and, after conferring with the other agents, Emily handed him the phone.

Dimitri's words were clear. "What do you what? What can I give you that'll make you release my mother?"

The reporter was so close that even Dalton's response was clear enough to hear. "I'm here on behalf of the Dinosaur Liberation Association. You know what I what. Dinosaurs have just as much reason to live as any other animals and your mother won't be returning until she signs off on my needs. Then and only then will I give myself up."

"That's not going to happen," Dimitri replied. "I've been on that island. I know what dinosaurs are capable of and I rather not wait until they figure out a way onto the mainland. They need to be destroyed."

"I see that you're adamant in your decision," came Dalton's voice over the phone. "Good thing it's not your decision and because of that, I'm going to give you an alternative decision. An associate of mine named Morgan Bruer is on her way here and you're going to let her through."

"Fine," Dimitri replied.

"I'm not done," Dalton said. "Morgan isn't coming through the front doors. She's coming through the roof. She has a helicopter, and unless you want dire injury to befall your mother, Morgan will land on the roof unopposed in which all of us will leave on. She will be here in five minutes and if she is barred in any way, Stephanie Maximoff won't survive until lunch."

**Dock**

Darren Sutter stepped out of his car and smelled the salty air at the Annapolis Dock. Unfortunately, that was all he smelled. There was virtually no one else on the dock. The robbery was too intense for anyone to come out and do any work.

Darren walked along the boardwalk until finding a small bar filled to the brink. It must have had a television in it. No one inside the bar even turned his or her heads when Darren stepped in. "Excuse me," Darren said. "I called a while ago about a boat. I was told that someone named Diego would come and help me."

No one answered him. No one even turned around. Darren sighed in disappointment. "People," he said, trying to keep the anger bottled up. "I'm here about a boat. The receptionist said that a man named Diego would meet me here."

Still, everyone stayed attentive to the small television screen and acted as if Darren wasn't there. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Darren launched a punch at the first man next to him, who doubled over instantly. "Now!" Darren yelled. "Diego! Where is he?"

"I'm right here," said the man who Darren punched. "If you had some patience, maybe I would have answered you."

"Sure," Darren said. "I could do that, or I could just keep punching you. Clearly no one else in the bar gives a damn so I all works out for me."

"Okay!" he begged as he slowly stood back up. "I'll get you a boat." Diego led Darren outside and began to show his boats, but nothing was really working for him.

"I need something that can go really far really fast. Are you going to tell me where such a boat is or am I going to have to hit you again?"

Diego didn't think that Darren would hit him again, but he decided to risk it. "I do have such a boat," he said, "but it's not mine. It's my brother's and if I let someone else have it, he would have my head on a pike, and I wouldn't put it past him to do it."

"Do you have the keys to the boat and is said boat on this dock?" Darren asked sternly. Diego only nodded. "Good, because all I have to do is threaten you and you'll hand them over." Diego whimpered a little bit before taking out the key chain and handing him the ignition key.

"My brother will be back tomorrow," he explained. "Please tell me you'll be back by then,"

"Hopefully," Darren said. "I just have one more request of you." Diego began to whimper again. Darren smiled before asking, "Do you have a phone book?"

**FBI Headquarters**

Eddie Harold relaxed in his office, but was finding it very hard to find anything good to watch on television. The robbery was eating up all of the good channels and all of the shows he usually watched were being bumped off.

Suddenly, the phone on his desk began to ring. "Finally," he said. "Something happens. God I hope it's a murder. It's been a slow day." Eddie was about to pick the phone up, but stopped as he recognized the phone number on the caller-Id.

Eddie quickly took the phone number Dana gave him earlier from his pocket and compared it to the one on the phone. They were identical. It was Ramon Avila. Eddie sighed as he picked the phone up. "FBI," he said.

"Yes," Ramon replied. Ramon's voice was calm and had a heavy Spanish accent. "Am I speaking with Agent Edward Harold?"

"Eddie," he corrected. He hated being called Edward. "Yes, this is he. You called earlier. What was so important that you needed me specifically?"

"Actually," Ramon replied. "It's what you need me for. You and Maryland's Lieutenant Governor Benji Madison have been chasing after a woman named Piper for about a year. I have information that may help you that I have just decided to reveal to you."

"What is it?"

"Come now," Ramon replied. "I can't just tell you over the phone. If you want to know what I know, then you'll come to me. 3546 Monroe Avenue. Ten minutes. Don't be late."

Eddie hung up the phone and grabbed his coat off of the floor before exited his office.

**Bank**

Dalton had already disconnected the phone so Emily wouldn't try to convince him to give them more time. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't He had no way of contacting Morgan. She was already on her way.

Stephanie, meanwhile, spent her time studying her kidnappers. It was as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Neither of you are over twenty-five I bet," Stephanie bluntly pointed out. "I bet the same about Morgan and anyone else you have working for you."

"True," Dalton said. "I myself am twenty-five and Lance is twenty-three, but that isn't what you should have yourself concerned with right now. If you promise to signoff on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna, I'll let you go."

"You don't intimidate me, Mr. Furrelle," Stephanie explained. "Both InGen islands will be destroyed within two years. You will not convince me otherwise."

"Which is why I'm taking you to the island," Dalton explained. "That way, you can see how calm and serene the dinosaurs can be. They are no different than housecats. I guarantee you that your mind will be changed by tonight."

Stephanie was about to respond, but was stopped as the sounds of Morgan's helicopter came through her ears. "Right on time," Lance said with enthusiasm. Lance holstered his gun and went for the stairs. Dalton grabbed the governor and followed up to the roof.

Lance hopped on to the helicopter enthusiastically as Morgan stepped out. She was black and rather short, no older than either Dalton or Lance either. "We're not staying," Dalton reminded her. "Get back in."

Morgan sighed. "Forgive me. I just wanted to stretch my legs for a little bit. We won't be stopping until we reach the island." Morgan stepped back in and Dalton forced the governor into the back and closed the door behind him.

"Let's go," Dalton ordered. "I want to be as far away from Maryland as possible before FBI begins to track us." Morgan nodded and began to take the helicopter into the air.


	5. Rescue Team

Chapter 5: Rescue Team

**Governor's Office**

No one in the governor's office could believe what he was seeing. Erik was speechless. Max was struggling to find the right words to explain the situation. Even Benji was trying to find anything to distract Erik from what had just happened.

The DLA had successfully kidnapped Stephanie Maximoff. "They'll be out of the state before the FBI can trace them, and if they're going to where I think they going, it'll be even harder to find them," Max explained.

"Thank you, Max," Erik said sarcastically. "I appreciate that." Max struggled with a response, but eventually deiced to leave the room.

Benji approached Erik and said. "You're not the only one shocked and upset and confused about this. Dimitri is dealing with this too and he's in the middle of media frenzy. I suggest that you stay with him, at least until the FBI locate Stephanie."

Erik was mixed with so many emotions that we couldn't think of a response. Benji was actually right. Erik nodded and left the room. Benji remained alone until the phone on Stephanie's desk rang. Benji answered it. "Hello," said the man on the other end. "I'm looking for Benji Madison. It's important."

"This is he," he replied.

"Good," he said. "I'm calling from the state senate. We've voted and have decide that with the kidnapping of Stephanie Maximoff that you should be sworn in as Acting Governor until she's brought back."

Benji was shocked. After a few seconds, he managed to reply, "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean Stephanie was just kidnapped. FBI will have her back by the end of the day. I hardly see why I have to be sworn in."

"With all due respect," the man replied. "It's not your decision. The vote was almost unanimous. Judge Wigsly is already on his way to swear you in. Of course, if you feel that you can't lead the state in her absence, we can have the speaker of the house sworn in instead."

"No!" Benji immediately replied. "I can do this. I can lead the state until Stephanie gets back." The man replied accordingly and hung up the phone. Benji sat in silence for a while. He had done gubernatorial duties while Stephanie was out of state before, but never in the midst of chaos and Stephanie was always back within two days.

Benji shook all of the doubt out of his head. He was going to be governor, whether he liked it or not.

**Dock**

After getting Darren the phone book, Diego made sure that he was as far away as possible. Darren didn't care. He didn't need him anymore anyways. He needed to call someone more important.

Darren began to flip through the phone book until finally finding the number he needed. He flipped his cell phone out and began to dial. After about five rings, someone answered. "Erik Maximoff," Darren began. "How it going?"

"Whom am I talking to?" Erik asked immediately.

"Erik," Darren said sarcastically. "I can't believe that you would forget me after all of these years. It's me! Darren Sutter!"

There was an eerie silence on Erik's end. Darren was worried that Erik had hung up. Finally, Erik came back. "Darren. It's been a while, but in case you haven't been watching the news, my wife has just been kidnapped. Now isn't such a good time."

"Now is the best time," Darren explained. "You see, I know all about the kidnapping. As a matter of fact, I have spent all morning getting ready to call you with a suggestion that I think you should accept."

Erik didn't respond. He only grunted to show that he was still listening. "Good," Darren said. "Hoping that the FBI will bring your wife back is a lost cause. The DLA will be long gone before they begin to follow. Lucky for you, I know where they're going. Isla Sorna. I suggest that we both go there and get her back ourselves."

There was another eerie silence coming from Erik's end. "Erik?" Darren called. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah," Erik finally managed to reply. "I'm still here. Darren, this plan of yours is iffy. I really don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything yet," Darren explained. "Just come down to the docks and I'll explain everything. Don't worry. We'll get your wife back." Erik only grunted in response before hanging up the phone.

Darren did the same and walked over to the boat. It was a speedboat, but it was at least twice as large. It had a lower compartment with three different rooms and had a beige tint to it. Darren boarded the boat and stared off into the ocean. "Isla Sorna," Darren whispered, "I'm coming back."

**Barricade**

The police barricade was being taken down as both the police and the FBI continued to swarm into the then empty bank. The media was trying to get and interview with Dimitri, but FBI agents and good-willed civilians were keeping them at bay. Even Andrew Rayburn was talking the reporters down. Even Dimitri had to admit it was a nice sentiment.

Dimitri approached the negotiator Emily. "How long is it going to take before you can get my mother back?"

"I can't say," Emily explained. "They really don't tell me anything and I really doubt they're going to tell you. You best bet would be to let us do our job and your mother will be brought back safely." Emily stood up and joined the other agents in the bank.

Dimitri began to walk back to limo until his phone rang. It was his father. "Dimitri," he began. "Are you all right?"

"I suppose," Dimitri replied, "but I also suppose that it would be sort of inhuman of I wasn't at least a little upset."

"I understand how you feel," Erik said, "but I just got a call from an old friend who says he can help. He says that the DLA is taking your mother to Isla Sorna. He says that in order for her to have any chance of survival, we should get her ourselves, and I have to be honest, it seems to be a good plan."

"Good plan?" Dimitri protested. "Good plan? This plan seems half-baked! How do we know that he's right? How does he know that he's right? How could he possibly know more than us?"

"I know," Erik replied. "I'm thinking the same questions myself, but it's the only option we have. Meet me at the docks."

"Fine," Dimitri submitted. "If it'll get mom back from the DLA, I'll meet you at the docks." Dimitri hung up and entered the limousine and told the driver to take him to the docks.

Back at the barricade, Andrew stepped out from behind the crowd. He was listening in on the whole conversation. "More DLA related action that the Maximoff family is hogging all to themselves? Yeah, right. Next stop: the docks."

**Avila Mansion**

Eddie arrived at the address Ramon Avila told him. Aside from the White House, it was the biggest house he had seen in D.C., perhaps the biggest anywhere. Eddie took a deep breath before knocking on the front door.

No answer.

Eddie knocked again, that time a lot harder. After a few second, the door opened. In front of him stood a young Hispanic woman who Eddie hoped wasn't Ramon. "Agent Harold," she said. "Mr. Avila has been expecting you."

Eddie took a sigh of relief before following the young woman into the dining room. Inside was an elderly Hispanic man sitting at the table eating from a bowl of cereal. The man looked up and pushed the cereal bowl away.

"Edward," he said in the heavy Spanish accent. Eddie cringed at the sound of his given name. The man was defiantly Ramon Avila. "I've been expecting you. I was half expecting for Benji Madison to have joined you."

"He has other thing to deal with right now," Eddie explained, "so lets skip ahead to why I'm here. You said that you have information regarding the elusive Piper. Unless you start talking, I'll get a court order to search your house and if I'm lucky I can have you arrested. If you're lying, I can have you walking back and forth in a prison cell for the next year."

"Walking isn't exactly part of my daily routine," Ramon explained. Ramon answered Eddie's confusion by pulling way from the table.

He was in a wheelchair.

"Regardless," Ramon continued, ""You won't have to arrest anyone, except for maybe Piper Norvell."

"Norvell," Eddie repeated. "That's her last name?"

"It is now," Ramon said, "but it wasn't always that. Her birth name was Maria Avila. Her last name changed after she married, but I have no knowledge of her husband's location, but can tell you one thing about him. Piper, then Maria, meet him while she was enrolled in the University of Maryland."

"How do you know all this?" Eddie finally asked.

"Simple," Ramon replied. "Piper Norvell is my daughter."


	6. Governor Benji Madison

Chapter 6: Governor Benji Madison

**Helicopter**

Dalton was half asleep sitting next to the captured governor. Morgan hadn't said a word since taking the helicopter into the air. Lance was reading a book, _Great Expectations _to be exact. Stephanie thought the book was too advanced for him.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Dalton finally asked, breaking the silence that Stephanie was trying to appreciate.

"I've been better," Stephanie said as she turned her head to the window. She was trying to figure out where they were.

"Georgia," Dalton interrupted. Stephanie didn't even turn around. "That's what you wanted to know, right? We're somewhere over Georgia. We should be hitting the island by lunch. Of course, we can still turn around, provided you promise to sign off on the island."

"Come on," Lance interrupted. "You and I both know that she isn't going to do anything for us without a little motivation. I personally am glad. I really don't get to visit the island all that much."

Dalton ignored him and continued to hope for a favorable response from Stephanie. He didn't get one. "Morgan," he called. "Call ahead. I want Hannah to be ready when we land." Morgan did as she was told.

"Hannah," she said through the radio. "We have the governor. We're somewhere over Georgia and should be arriving in about two hours."

"Two hours?" Hannah yelled. It was so loud that it knocked the book right out of Lance's hands. "I have to wait two more hours with him? I don't care if you have to throw Lance out, just get here now. I don't think I can stand another second with him."

"Wait a minute now," Lance said. "Let's not be to hasty. Hannah Carnivalli is just a little on edge. We don't have to go and throw people out of windows to lighten the load now. Do we?"

No one in the helicopter even dignified Lance with a response. "Relax Hannah," Dalton said. "We'll be there. In the meantime, it's a big island. I'm sure you can find somewhere to be alone." Hannah groaned in opposition, but she knew that she had no choice in the matter.

"One more chance," Dalton said softly. "Sign the paper or Isla Sorna." Still, Stephanie refused to answer. Dalton sat back up and didn't turn back to Stephanie for the remainder of the flight.

**Dock**

The air at the docks was just as calm and serene as it was the hour before when Darren arrived. Now, as Erik arrived, the docks were just as empty as it was before. Erik walked slowly on the docks until Darren Sutter came into view. Erik ran over to his old friend

"Erik," Darren began. "It has been a long time, but unfortunately, we really don't have time to handle the informalities right now. We should leave now."

"Not yet," Erik said. "We're going to wait for Dimitri."

"Dimitri?" Darren protested. "You son is coming? I hate to disagree with you, but your son doesn't exactly have the knowledge to survive on that island. He can't come."

"On the contrary," Erik said. "My son managed to survive on that island about a year ago during the Gibson fiasco. Besides, I'm not saying he's coming. I'm just saying he's coming here." Erik paused. "Speaking of which, here he comes now."

"Dad!" he yelled as he ran down the boardwalk. Dimitri arrived and glanced at Darren. "Is this the old friend?" Erik nodded and Darren introduced himself. "All right Mr. Sutter," Dimitri began. "Why should I trust you? How could you possibly know more about the kidnapping that I do?"

"Erik," Darren pleaded. "You don't think I'm lying, do you?" Erik shrugged and Darren sighed. "Fine. My daughter goes to the University of New Mexico, which just happens to be the same college that Lance Savarin attended. My daughter just managed to overhear a conversation."

Dimitri was out of questions, something Erik hadn't expected. "Okay," he said in an attempt to break the awkward silence. "I think we're done with the interrogation. Darren and I will go to the island and get you mother back. I want you to stay with Benji at the mansion."

"Think again," Dimitri said as he took the lead and boarded the boat. "I'm coming too."

**Governor's Office**

Benji sat silently as Judge Wigsly stepped over to his desk. Benji was clearly distressed, but the judge didn't seem to notice, or at the very least not care. "Mr. Madison," Wigsly began as he put a Bible on the desk. The Judge knew that Benji was Jewish, he just didn't care. He just wanted to get his way in front of the cameramen in the room.

"Repeat after me," he said. "I do solemnly swear,"

"I do solemnly swear," Benji mirrored.

"That I will support and defend."

"That I will support and defend."

"The Constitution of the United States."

Benji paused for a moment before continuing. Wigsly gave him a look before Benji continued, "The Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter," Benji paused before he emphasized, "So help me God."

Wigsly grunted before exiting the room, followed by the reporters that Max shoved out. "Benji?" he asked. "Are you going to be all right?"

"No Max," he said. "I'm not going to be all right. This here could very well be the worst day of my life. I can't do this alone. Everytime I stood in for Stephanie, Erik would be here, but he left and it would be selfish of me to call him back." Benji's cell phone began to ring. He glanced at the name before tossing it over to Max.

"It's Eddie," he said. "You deal with it."

Max shrugged and answered the phone. "Hello Agent Harold," he began. "Benji's a little preoccupied at the moment so if this isn't important, can he call you back?"

"This is important," Eddie explained. "I've found Piper's father. He says her birth name is Maria Avila."

Max exited the room before yelling, "No way! This is huge. Does he know where she is?"

"No," Eddie replied. "He says he doesn't and I believe him. What he does tell me is that she's married and that she met her husband while enrolled in the University of Maryland. If Benji can't do it, I need you to find out who her husband is."

"I'm on it," Max said before hanging up the phone.

**Avila Mansion**

Eddie finished up his conversation with Max Gibson before returning to the kitchen. Ramon was back eating from his bowl of cereal. "Mr. Avila," Eddie began. "I don't think it's safe for you to stay here. If your daughter finds out you gave her up to the authorities, she could become murderous."

"What are you suggesting?" Ramon asked. Eddie knew perfectly well that Ramon understood what he was talking about. "Are you suggesting that I just uproot my life so I can hide from my daughter? I don't mean to insult your skills, but this could take a long time."

"I think it's worth it," Eddie explained.

"I do not," Ramon shot back. "Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean that I don't have an active life. Now, if you come across any more valuable information regarding my daughter, please do not hesitate to drop by."

Eddie stammered for a response, but failed to find one. "Now," Ramon repeated. "In case you have forgotten where it is, Rita will show you the way out." The young Hispanic woman who opened the front door took Eddie by the arm and led him outside.

"Please," she said. "Don't consider Ramon the villain. He wishes to see his daughter captured just as much as you do."

"Is that so?" he asked. "If that were true, then why did he come forward with this information now? He's clearly known about this for a while now, so why did he let me run around the country on a wild goose chase? Huh?"

"Because," Rita explained, "he was testing her. He wanted to see if she was smart enough to evade capture."

"What happened that made his little test end?" Eddie asked.

"Because," she said, "Ramon has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He should be dead within the week. He can't test her is he's dead, so he's decided to tell you everything." Eddie once again was at a loss for words. Rita smiled before closing the door.

Eddie walked over to his car and pressed the speed dial button. "Yeah," he began. "This is Agent Eddie Harold. I'm requesting for a surveillance team to be sent to 3546 Monroe Avenue and for an APB to be issued for Maria Norvell."

Eddie hung up the phone and pulled out of the driveway.


	7. Piper Norvell's Love Life

Chapter 7: Piper Norvell's Love Life

**Boat**

Time had passed since Erik, Dimitri, and Darren set sail, but none of them knew exactly how long it had been. In all honesty, none of them really cared. Erik had called and left a message for Benji explaining what he was doing, but he wasn't sure if the message had been relayed.

Darren remained at the wheel in silence and everytime Dimitri walked to the left of him, he would turn slightly to the right. He would to the opposite when Dimitri walked to his right. Finally, Dimitri gave up. "I'm going to sleep," he announced. "Wake me when we get there."

Erik nodded, but Darren only shrugged. Dimitri walked below deck and opened the fist door he came to, only to see it to be a storage room. Dimitri walked over to the next room and walked in. Dimitri was about to flop onto the bed until a sound from the remaining room stopped him. The sound was so loud that even Darren came rushing downstairs.

"What did you do?" he immediately assumed.

"I did nothing!" Dimitri immediately yelled back. "It came from the other room." Darren slowly walked over to the door and began to push it open. As he did, another loud sound came. Now, Darren slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handgun.

"You brought a gun?" Dimitri yelled in a whisper. Darren only put his finger to his mouth in response. Darren retuned to slowly opening the door until it was ajar enough for him to slip in. Dimitri followed.

The room was just another bedroom identical to the one Dimitri was just in. "Okay!" Darren yelled. "Whoever or whatever is in here, come out right now!" No one came out, but Dimitri heard whimpering coming from the closet. Dimitri rolled his eyes and motioned for Darren to put his gun away.

Dimitri calmly approached the closet and threw it open. There, stood Andrew Rayburn. He was wearing a homemade copy of the camouflage uniform the DLA used during the bank robbery. "Andrew," Dimitri said. "I should have known. It looks like we have our very own DLA wannabe coming with us."

"He can't come with," Darren protested.

"He has to," Erik said as he joined the conversation. "We're already on our way. We'd only waste more time if we turned around. He comes, but he stays on the boat."

"What?" Andrew protested. "I have to stay on the boat? I hardly see how that's fair to me. If I have to stay, then I think it's only fair that Dimitri stay with me."

"Fair?" Dimitri asked with a laugh. "Fair? My definition of fair is throwing you overboard, and don't think that I wouldn't either. You're just annoying enough to push me to that point."

Andrew laughed a scared chuckle before closing the closet door.

**Hallway**

Max was still roaming around the hallways of the University of Maryland aimlessly. The new dean was strict and wouldn't even let Max check the student records even with Eddie Harold's approval. The new dean said that since Eddie lived in Washington D.C., he had no jurisdiction in Maryland.

Max didn't want to seem incompetent, and so he didn't want to call Eddie back without any progress. He continued to ask random student if they recognized the name Norvell. His search didn't seem to bear any fruit. Max almost gave up until a student mentioned that he heard the football coach mention the name.

Max immediately left for the football field where the team was training. The coach was an elderly man, no younger than sixty, but still appeared to be in good physical health. "Coach!" Max yelled as he came running along the sidelines. "Coach! I have a simple question to ask of you. Official FBI business."

"No," the coach replied in a gruff demanding voice.

"It involves Norvell," Max explained. Now, the coach seemed interested. "I just need to know who he is."

The coach stood in thought before replying, "I could tell you, but I think it would be better if I showed you." The coach led Max back into the hallway and to a trophy case. "There," the coach pointed.

Max looked at the black-and-white picture. Pictured was a football team together with cheerleaders sitting on bleachers. Max peered down and read the date as March 25, 1979, almost twenty years prior. The coach pointed to someone in the front row with a cheerleader sitting on his lap."

"Sam Novell," the coach said proudly. "The greatest running back this school has ever known. He could've gone pro if his hamstring hadn't gone out."

Max nodded in disbelief as he continued to stare at the picture. "So," he said. "That girl on his lap. Is that Maria Avila?"

The coach nodded. "That it is. Maria was head cheerleader and Sam's girlfriend and eventual wife. I should know. I was at the wedding."

Max turned around and thanked the coach. "Thank you very much, coach. This will help nicely." The coach left and Max pulled out Benji cell phone and dialed Eddie's number.

**FBI Headquarters**

Eddie stepped through the doors as he finished his conversation with Max Gibson. He wasted no time in getting his subordinates on the Norvell assignment. "Dana," he ordered. "Piper has a husband. Sam Norvell. Find him. And don't forget to keep checking for any mention of a Maria Avila within the last year. That goes for all of you."

Eddie continued to walk to his office. Dana stood up and followed him. "You're not our boss per se," Dana remained. "You really don't get to shove us around that way, not that we won't do our jobs. Still, Sam Norvell doesn't appear to be a promising lead."

"It is," said another FBI agent. "A man by the name of Samuel Norvell issued a missing persons report for his wife Maria almost two years ago. I'll have his address for you within the minute."

Eddie smiled triumphantly. Dana scowled. "Fine. You were right, but that doesn't mean you'll be right again. I should go with you just to make sure you don't screw up like you did before."

"No," Eddie immediately replied. "You're an intelligence agent, which mean you do your best work right here, not with me in the field. You know that just as well as I do."

Dana was about to respond until the other FBI agent interrupted. "Agent Harold. Agent Tomlinson. I have Sam Norvell's address."

Eddie and Dana walked over to the computer screen. "8994 Lawrence Avenue." Eddie stood up and went directly for the door. Dana followed until Eddie turned around and pushed her back lightly. "I don't think so," Eddie said. "You're staying here." Eddie left leaving Dana to return to her desk.

**Helicopter**

Isla Sorna was now clearly in view. Dalton was admiring the view while Lance hadn't looked up from his book the entire flight. Morgan kept the helicopter steady as they entered InGen airspace. "We're almost there," Dalton assured Stephanie. "You won't have to stay in such close quarters with us."

In a matter of seconds, a three-part trailer came into view with a young blond woman standing in front of it. Morgan began to lower the helicopter. Lance hopped out before the helicopter reached the ground.

As Morgan touched down, Dalton stepped out. "Lance!" he yelled. "We have a guest." Lance groaned as he walked back and pulled the door open for Stephanie. Stephanie calmly stepped out onto Isla Sorna.

"Nice trailer," Stephanie complimented.

"Thank you," Lance accepted. "Property of Thorne Industries. I have a cousin who works there so he got me half price." Lance walked inside the middle trailer, careful to avoid eye contact with the young blond woman. Morgan did exactly the same.

"Hannah," Dalton told his subordinate. "I severely hope you wont disrupt our guest with your constant squabbling. I suggest you fix the problem or stay as far away from him as possible."

"That wouldn't be far enough!" she yelled. "He and I can't even be on the same continent together, much less the same island."

"Too bad!" Dalton yelled. The voice was incredibly demanding. Stephanie didn't think that Dalton had the power to yell so forcefully. Dalton then returned to his former calm voice. "Like it or not, you are on the same island with him and so you are just going to have to deal with it."

Dalton led Stephanie inside the front trailer and left Hannah outside alone. "What was that about?' Stephanie asked. Stephanie wasn't really the intrusive kind, but being on the island seemed to change her almost immediately.

"A former relationship with another of my associates that didn't end well," Dalton explained. "It's nothing you should concern yourself with. All I need you to do is watch the dinosaurs and you'll see that they are no different than any other animal."

Dalton was about to leave for the second compartment until Stephanie asked, "The island. You've been here before. How many times?" Dalton only smiled before turning back around and walking into the second compartment.


	8. Benji's Insanity

Chapter 8: Benji's Insanity

**Governor's Office**

The entire governor's mansion was in frenzy. At least half of the employees failed to show up for work on the day that they were needed most. Interns were only getting in the way. The Chief of Staff was on his was to a desolate island and the press secretary was out of town until the end of the month.

Still, the most chaotic of those rooms was the governor's office. Although the room was essentially quiet, Benji's mind was racing uncontrollably. Even thought the room was large, it was still fairly crowded. Camera crew had set up all over the office, Max had returned, but was shoved off into the corner, and Stephanie's deputy chief of staff, Mackenzie Rosenquist, was standing next to Benji.

"Mr. Madison," Mackenzie whispered over to him. "You seem a bit nervous. Are you okay in doing this?" Mackenzie was a 32-year-old brunette who tended to wear glasses even though she had contact lenses. She was also known for wearing an engagement ring, even though she never spoke of her love life.

"No," Benji whispered back bluntly, "I'm not okay in doing this. I feel like I'm going to explode. Still, if I don't do this, the state senate will kick me out of a job and give this desk to the speaker. I can't let that happen."

Mackenzie sighed and motioned for the cameramen to hurry up and finish their preparations. Max left the corner and approached Mackenzie. "Benji doesn't want to do this."

"Benji can't do this," Mackenzie immediately shot back. "I don't want you to tell Benji, but I've already called the state senate. If Benji begins to be a hassle, they want me to inform them immediately so they can have the speaker of the house sworn in."

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Max asked. "I mean sure, Benji may not be the most qualified for the job. Hell, I bet some of these cameramen could do a better job, but Benji has strengths on other subject and I'm sure that he'll show off his skills when the times comes."

Mackenzie sighed in disbelief before one of the cameramen approached her, "Ms. Rosenquist, the cameras are ready." Mackenzie nodded and gave him the signal. The cameraman returned and began to count down with his fingers.

Once he reached zero, the lighted dimmed and shone directly on Benji Madison. "People of Maryland," he began. "As many of you already know, Governor Stephanie Maximoff was recently kidnapped by an organization known as the Dinosaur Liberation Association. FBI was able to track the helicopter before it fell off the radar. Using this information, the FBI has managed to pinpoint their location as Isla Sorna, one of the islands once owned by InGen. Rest assured, FBI is working with the White House to get her back as soon as possible. In the meantime, I encourage all citizens to come forward with any information regarding Dalton Furrelle, Lance Savarin, Morgan Bruer, or the DLA in general."

Benji paused suddenly. Mackenzie's jaw dropped at the silence. She ran to the cameraman and ordered them to cut off the camera. After all the cameramen shut their cameras off, Mackenzie ran to Benji's side. "What was that?"

"I just realized something," Benji said. Benji passed Mackenzie and left the office. Max and Mackenzie could only give each other blank looks of despair.

**Trailer**

Stephanie sat alone in the front compartment of the trailer. She was expected to watch the dinosaurs on the monitors roam free, but she wasn't. Stephanie began to wonder why Dalton wasn't in there with her trying to convince her of anything. She decided to find out.

Stephanie walked into the second compartment. It was a kitchen. Morgan was jumbling through the fridge while Lance was playing solitaire on the computer. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the governor. "Mrs. Maximoff," Hannah said as she came from the outside. Lance and Morgan didn't even look up. "Dalton was wondering when you'd begin to wander about. He's waiting for you outside."

Hannah tapped Morgan on the shoulder. "Is he in there?" she asked as she pointed to the door that led to the third compartment." Morgan only nodded before retuning to the fridge. Hannah growled before heading off into the first compartment.

Stephanie nodded uncomfortably and exited the trailer. There, she saw Dalton resting against a tree looking down a hill and into a large expanse. Stephanie moved closer to see a pack of raptors taking down a brachiosaurus.

"Is it really that safe to be out here?" Stephanie asked.

"If I didn't think so," Dalton said, "would I have kidnapped you?" Dalton smiled. "It's a beautiful sight. You might see a pack of bloodthirsty creatures whose only want is to see the death of another animal. I see the food chain in action, no different than a lion taking down a gazelle. I've seen plenty of pictures online showing a hawk eating a mouse. Do you know what that's considered? Art. I have never seen dinosaurs online, but if I did, it wouldn't be considered art. It would be contraband."

"As it should be," Stephanie replied. "Whether or not you've been here before or not has no relevance. You haven't seen what these creatures can do."

"Neither have you," Dalton replied. "Feel free to go back to the trailer, but you're only going back to a moshpit of idiots and outcasts." Stephanie sighed in agreement before resting against the tree next to Dalton.

**Boat**

The Isla Sorna shore was in view as Darren began to slow the boat down. Dimitri, Erik, and even Andrew were waiting expectantly for the boat to land. Finally, they hit the island. Darren began to turn the boat off as Erik lowered the plank onto the beach.

"Darren," Dimitri said, "I thought I could do this without asking, but it's just not going to happen. How do you know my father and how do you now Isla Sorna?"

Darren smirked as he took the key out of the ignition. "Your father and I both worked together here. I, your father, and another scientist by the name of Michael Sullivan. We were part of an elite team specifically chosen by Dr. Henry Wu for part one of a two-part special assignment."

Erik entered the conversation. "Another team was working on a prototype super raptor that would have been introduced a year after the park's grand opening. All I know is that a Dr. Wright was working on it. Dr. Wu had us working on a hybrid. We were starting simple. We mixed the DNA with that of a compy with that of a stegosaurus. Unfortunately, Isla Sorna was hastily evacuated before we could see the fruits of our labor."

"And to finish off the introductions," Andrew interrupted as he put his arms around Dimitri and Darren. Dimitri was surprised it took him so long to interrupt. "Hello. I'm Andrew Rayburn. Junior at John Quincy Adams High School. Certified Genius. How's it going?"

"Good," Darren replied as he removed Andrew's arm off of him. Dimitri did the same. "But I'll be much better when I won't have to hear your voice until we get back."

"I'm not following," Andrew said.

"Simple," Darren explained. "Erik and I were talking and it would appear that we have a unanimous decision. You're not coming with us, and we're going to make sure of that." Erik and Darren took Andrew by the arm and began to drag him below deck. Andrew struggled, but nothing happened. Finally, the two dropped him in a room and close the door behind then. Erik took a chair from the supply closet and barricaded the door.

"Come on," Andrew pleaded from the other side. "This is hardly fair. I guarantee you, in about five minutes, you're going to get yourself in a situation and be begging for my expertise and bravery. You'll see."

The other three ignored him as three climbed back upstairs and hopped off the boat. Dimitri froze. "Where exactly are we going?"

Erik stopped and turned around. "You'll see."

**Norvell House**

Eddie Harold drove up to the front of Sam Norvell's house. He tried calling Dana, but she was just ignoring his calls, so he had to call another agent. "I need you to do two things for me," Eddie told him. "First, I need you monitor all communications in and out of the Norvell house while I'm here. Second, I want you to personally tell Dana to get off her ass because no offence, I need her on this, not you."

Eddie hung up the phone and parked along the curb. He approached the door, but didn't have a chance to knock. It was already opening. "Are you Sam Norvell?" Eddie asked the balding man standing in front of him.

He nodded. He looked average. Average height, average weight, average clothing. He was just average. "Mr. Norvell, I'm special agent Eddie Harold with the FBI. I'm here with news on your wife. Can I come in?"

Sam was speechless, but it was obvious he was looking for a response. "Of course," he finally said. "Come in. Come in." Eddie entered and Sam offered for him to sit down. "Mr. Norvell, when was the last time you saw your wife?"

Sam seemed confused. "I don't understand. Why are you asking me this again? Why are you here if you don't know anything new?"

"Well," Eddie lied, "We have reason to believe that you're lying. According to our intel, calls have been made from this house to a known villainous accomplice known as Piper, and according to a man named Ramon Avila, who just happens to be your wife's father, she and Maria are one in the same."

Sam stammered for a response, but didn't have the chance to give one. "Who's he?" came a rude voice from the stairs. Eddie turned around to a teenage boy wearing black jeans and a black jacket staring irefully at him.

"Special agent Eddie Harold," Eddie introduced himself. "I'm here regarding your mother."

"We don't need you," he immediately shot back. "You've been looking for my mother for two years and haven't found anything, so just stop looking already!"

"Kyle!" Sam yelled. "That is not the way we speak to guests. Either be nice or go to your room." Kyle took another few second to stare irefully at Eddie before heading back upstairs.

"I'm sorry about him," Sam explained. "He hasn't been the same since Maria disappeared. It's probably my fault. I haven't been very cooperative with the authorities either. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

Meanwhile, Kyle Norvell entered his room and immediately looked it behind him. He took a deep breath before dialing a number on his cell phone. Finally, someone answered. "Mom," Kyle immediately said. "FBI is here. They know about you. They know about the Piper thing. Everything."

"Relax," Piper interrupted. "They don't know anything. I want you to continue your day as normal and avoid any questions they have for you. I'll handle them."

Kyle took another deep breath before hanging up the phone.


	9. Mr Green in the Conservatory with the

Chapter 9: Mr. Green in the Conservatory with the Candlestick

**Trail**

Dimitri, Erik, and Darren had been walking for what seemed like hours. Darren and Erik seemed to appear to know where they were going, but Dimitri was being kept in the dark. Part of him didn't really want to know.

Finally, Darren broke the silence. "Erik, you wouldn't happen to know what Michael is doing these days? I tried to stay in touch but he's a pretty busy person."

"No," Erik replied. "I got an invitation to his wedding about a year ago, but I was too busy helping my wife set up her administration to go. That was the last I heard of him."

"Good to hear he's doing well," Darren replied with a sense of boredom in his voice. "We'll be just as happy when we finish all of this and be watching television with our wives." Erik only smirked.

Dimitri really wanted to butt into the conversation. He knew Darren only started it because Dimitri wouldn't enter. He decided not to ruin Darren's fun. After another few minutes of walking and talking, the trio arrived at an abandoned office building.

The building was fairly small. It was only one story. Darren led the way inside. There were only four rooms, including a large lobby. At the end was a door that read: Dr. Henry Wu: Chief Geneticist

Erik approached the door and glanced at the keypad next to the door. "Can you believe that?" Erik said with a sense of humor in his voice. It was the first time he smiled since the fiasco at the bank. "The one time I remember the combination and there's no power."

Darren chuckled and even Dimitri gave out a small smirk. "Good thing I know other ways of getting inside," Darren said as he pulled out a credit card. Darren slid it inside and the door popped open in seconds.

The trio entered the room, but it was seemingly worthless. There was nothing inside except a desk and a couple of papers littered all over the ground. Erik and Darren ignored the desk and papers and approached another keypad at the end of the room. "Do you remember this combination?" Darren jested.

"Of course," Erik said as he punched in four different numbers. "Dr. Wu never could remember more than one code." Dimitri didn't get it. If there was no power, how could this keypad work? Dimitri was proven wrong. A hidden elevator next to the keypad opened up and Darren and Erik instantly entered. Dimitri followed.

The door closed behind them and the elevator began to descend. "This room still has power," Erik explained to his son. "It was Darren's idea. He wanted to make sure that this room still operated in case of a power failure. I guess it came in handy."

Dimitri smiled in response as the elevator came to a stop. The door opened and the three exited into a small hallway that led to a door. Erik opened it and turned on the light. In front of them was a supercomputer that surrounded the entire circular wall. Dimitri guessed there were at least forty cameras.

Darren sat in the swivel chair and began to type on the keyboard. Eventually, the screens began to illuminate. "We're halfway there," Darren said. "Once the motion detectors find something that didn't exist 65 million years ago, we'll go find Stephanie."

**Governor's Office**

Mackenzie was going crazy. The reporters and cameramen were in a frenzy and it was only making matters worse. She tried to push them out, but it only made them go slower. Mackenzie saw Max coming back through the hall. The hallway was empty, meaning it was silent, and so she decided to meet him there.

"Max," she said as she approached him. "Did you catch up to Benji?"

Max shook his head. "I made it to the parking lot, but Benji was already pulling out. I sent someone to his house, but I severely doubt he's going there. Maryland is flying solo."

"I told you this would happen," Mackenzie reminded. "I knew Benji would become a hassle. I'm calling the state senate." Mackenzie walked back into the now empty governor's office and picked up the phone on the counter and began to dial. "Yes," she began. "This is Mackenzie Rosenquist calling from the governor's mansion-"

Max hung up the phone. "Let's think about this for a second," Max said. "I'm sure that being governor has crossed your mind every once and a while. I believe that now could be your chance to do just that."

"I don't know-"

"Trust me," Max said. "With all the chaos going around, no one will even notice, and if it'll make you feel any better, I'll go look for Benji. How's about that?"

Mackenzie still seemed a little unsure of herself. "It defiantly would be an improvement, but I have an obligation to call the state senate. If they found out that I was shirking my responsibilities, they won't just fire me. They could very well have me arrested."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Max said. "Last year I broke so many laws, but Stephanie was kind enough to expunge those records because I was doing it for the right cause. When Stephanie hears the situation, she'll do the same."

"Assuming Mrs. Maximoff is returned safely," Mackenzie pointed out pessimistically. "Still, you have a point. I have often thought of pointing out Stephanie and Benji's errors. Now could be my chance to fix them."

"Exactly!" Max exclaimed. It was obvious he wasn't listening. He just wanted to speed the conversation up because he was going to get his way. "So, why don't you just situate yourself right here in Stephanie's seat while I take my car and begin my search for Benji?"

Mackenzie slowly took a seat as Max gave her a thumbs up. "Remember," Max reminded her. "You're not the governor. Benji is. So, if anyone asks, Benji is 'out'. I'll be on my way." Max left the governor's office and closed the door behind him. He ran down the stairs and exited the front door, taking a deep breath before sliding into his car.

"All right Max," he said to himself. "It's all on you. Everyone's counting on you to find Benji. Don't screw up." Max took another deep breath before starting the car up and pulling out of the parking lot.

**FBI Headquarters**

Eddie walked back through the door of the FBI headquarters to see Dana running up to meet him. He was half expecting to see her walk off into the other room. "Eddie," she jested. "As always, you have impeccable timing." Eddie only scoffed. "Anyways, the communications information just came in. It looks like you were right. There was a call made from the Norvell house."

"I knew it!" Eddie exclaimed with a positive gleam in his eye. "The second I walked into that house, I knew that Sam was lying to me. He is in contact with Piper. Brad! Get an arrest warrant for Sam Norvell."

"Slow your roll, Brad," Dana said. "If you didn't have such a big ego, you would wait for common sense to kick in. The call was made while you were still talking with Sam from a phone issued to Kyle Norvell, Sam and Piper's son."

"Great," Eddie said with less enthusiasm than before. "Brad, get an arrest warrant for Kyle Norvell."

"Hold on Brad," Dana repeated. "In case you didn't know, our tracer doesn't tell us who Kyle Norvell called. He could have very well been ordering a pizza. If we want to know more, we're going to have to question him ourselves."

Eddie sighed, but was interrupted before he could respond. The lights all suddenly turned off. All of the computers suddenly shut off as well. At the same instance, Eddie's cell phone rang. Eddie hesitantly answered it and per Dana's request, put it on speaker.

"Eddie Harold," came Piper Norvell's sultry voice. "I take it you received my message. Let me make it as clear as I possibly can. This is your first and last warning. If you ever bother my family again, I will not hesitate to pay your wife and daughter a visit. 7781 Old Cypress Street, right?"

"You stay away from my family!" Eddie yelled.

"Only if you stay away from mine," Piper ordered. "Goodbye, Eddie Harold. For your sake, I hope this is the last time we speak."

Piper hung up the phone and Eddie did the same. Suddenly, the light and computers all came back on simultaneously. "Well?" Dana asked. "What are we going to do now?"

"What we do every day," Eddie said confidently. "We're going to catch us a criminal."

**Trailer**

The raptor attack was just about over. The Brachiosaur was dead and the raptors were savoring their prize. "It's over," Dalton pointed out. "We should get back." Dalton led Stephanie back into the trailer.

Inside, Stephanie saw that Lance was still on the computer, but neither Morgan nor Hannah was anywhere to be seen. To the left of Lance was another young man with black hair and camouflage outfit that Stephanie had never seen before. It was clearly the young man Hannah was complaining about.

"Where are the girls?" Dalton asked.

"Fresh air," the mysterious young man replied immediately. "Apparently my aurora was poisoning Hannah's so they decided to follow a group of triceratops along the river. They said they'd be back by lunch."

Dalton didn't even respond. It was obvious he didn't really care what happened to his subordinates. "Lance," he ordered. "The governor still isn't convinced. I want you to take her down by the lake and show her around."

"Just give me a few minutes," Lance requested. "I can't pause minesweeper." Dalton sighed, but found it pointless to argue with him. Dalton left for the first compartment.

Stephanie took a seat across from the young man as Lance lost his game of minesweeper. Lance resent the game, hoping no one would notice. "Governor Maximoff," the young man said. "I've heard a lot about you. I know you're a good person and in the end, I know you'll make the right decision."

"The question is," Stephanie replied, "is the right decision the same as your right decision?" The mysterious man simply gave the governor a small smirk.

"All right," Lance said after his third try. "This game is defiantly against me. I'll come back and try again later. Governor Maximoff, please join me in the conservatory." Lance led Stephanie into the third compartment. Just as the name suggested, the room was filled with plants. There were candlesticks on the shelves, but they weren't lit.

Stephanie kept her eye on the plants as Lance continued to talk. "Just give me a quick minute and-" Lance suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Stephanie spun around to see the young man holding a candlestick standing over an unconscious Lance Savarin.

The young man took Lance by the legs and began to drag him. He stopped. "You know," he said. "This would go a lot quicker if you helped." Stephanie nodded and grabbed Lance's arms. The young man took a roll of duct tape out of the cupboard and covered his mouth. He also took a rope and tied Lance's arm to a pipe.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Stephanie said, "but who are you?"

"We've never met," he explained, "but I'm sure Dimitri has told you much about me. I'm Scott Green."


	10. New Identities

Chapter 10: New Identities

**Bar**

Benji Madison slowly walked through the doors of the Hollander Bar. He hadn't been there in years. Benji used to come here because the bartender never actually checked for Id. Benji looked across the counter. The same old bartender from twenty years ago was still serving alcohol.

Benji adjusted the hoodie as he sat down to make sure his face was hidden from anyone's view as he ordered a beer. It didn't work. Someone from a table walked over to the bar. "Hey," he began. "Aren't you Benji Madison? Shouldn't you be at the governor's mansion?"

Benji looked up slowly. The man was chubby and fairly tall. He also didn't seem to have brush his hair once in his life. "No," Benji replied, "but I get that a lot. Name's Dylan."

"Stan," the other man introduced himself as he extended his hand. "So, what brings you over here in the midst of all this chaos."

"It's all this chaos that brought me here," Benji explained. "I used to come here as a teen to get rid of all me pain. I stopped coming after I learned that drinking would ruin my new job. Well, it's that job that's got me here and I wouldn't have to have worried about it of Stephanie Maximoff hadn't entered that bank."

"Her kidnapping ruined you?" Stan asked. "Then we have something in common. You see, this morning I was a security guard at the bank. Once the robbers came in, I charged at them. Just as I was about to attack Dalton, the other guy knocked me out with his gun. I was unconscious until they pushed all of the hostages out. Once the crisis was over, I was fired for trying to stop the robbers myself. I was being a hero and I got fired for it!"

"Sounds to me that you want revenge," Benji said. "As a matter of fact, it sounds to me that you want to rob that bank yourself just to prove a point."

"Not good enough," Stan replied. "I've got to go bigger. I gotta rob the main office."

Benji remained silent in shock. Finally, he responded. "You know what Stan, you have a point. How would you like an accomplice in your little escapade?"

"You serious?" Stan asked. Benji nodded. "Great. Once we pick up two other guys, who also got fired to going against the rules of a hostage situation, we'll pay my old boss a visit." Stan finished off his beer before leading Benji into his car.

**Trailer**

Stephanie Maximoff wasn't exactly sure what she had heard. She though she heard that her rescuer was none other than a government conspirator hired by Henry Gibson the year prior, the very person who started the domino effect hat caused all of the problems one year ago.

"Stephanie," he said as he propped Lance against the wall and pulled out a roll of duct tape from the cupboard. "This would go a lot faster if you helped." Stephanie nodded and silently took another roll of duct tape and placed it over Lance's mouth. Scott carefully tied Lance's arm onto the pipe using almost the entire roll of tape.

"Let's go," Scott ordered as he stood up. Stephanie remained on the ground. "Okay, it would appear that you're not exactly grasping the escape concept. You see, it helps when the escapee is cooperating with her rescuer. Now let's try this again. Let's go."

Stephanie stood up and followed Scott through the middle compartment and into the first compartment. "Dalton," Scott spoke up. "Lance decided to go find the girls and drop the governor to me, so I guess I'll be taking the governor down to the lake."

Dalton spun around and stared into Scott's eyes as if trying to figure out if he were lying or not, as if Scott had trouble with lying in the past. "Lance felt that it was worth to get up off his computer to go find two girls that he really doesn't care for?"

"More than giving a tour to a governor he really doesn't care for," Scott shot back. "Now, I have a tour to give so if you done grilling me, can I go?"

"Yeah," Dalton replied. "You can go." Dalton turned back around as Scott and Stephanie slowly exited outside. The duo continued to walk in silence until they were a good distance away from the trailer.

"So," Stephanie finally said. "From what Dimitri tells me, you're the person to with the plan. So, what's the plan?"

"I don't have one," Scott replied bluntly, "but I'm also a make it up as I go kind of guy. Once we're a good distance away, we'll find someway to contact Costa Rica. There, you can use your super governor powers to get yourself back to Maryland and I use my computer hacking powers to disappear as I did a year ago."

Stephanie only sighed. "Dalton is no idiot," Stephanie pointed out. "He's going to find out that Lance is tied up in the conservatory and he's going to start and all out search for us and it would appear to me that he's not going to give up very easily."

I'm sure that he's nothing to worry about," Scott explained. "For now, we should just find somewhere to lay low until Dalton gives up." Scott stopped walking and began to look around. Finally, he pointed to a fairly far away hill. "We should be able to see a good hiding place from up there." Scott and Stephanie resumed walking.

**Van**

Eddie sat silently in the unmarked black van parked along the curb along side other FBI agents as he watched Kyle Norvell walk down the street. As all Thursday, Kyle told his friends that he would meet them at the Burger King down the road. Kyle always skipped school on Thursday and his father never did anything about it, even though he was the history teacher at the school.

Eddie had done the plan many times before and he was sure it would go down without a hitch. Eddie ordered the driver to pull around back of the Burger King just as Kyle entered the front door and sat down to await his friends. Eddie, meanwhile, exited the van and entered through the back door that led into the kitchen.

Eddie glanced at the camera, knowing that it was off. He glanced at his watch and began to count down silently from five. Right on time, three armed gunmen entered the Burger King and began to fire into the air rapidly.

Kyle ducked down under the table as the first gunman yelled, "Okay! You know the drill. I want money in the bag right now!" Eddie stayed quietly in the back of the kitchen he once again began to count backwards from five. Five seconds later, the Burger King was surrounded with police cars.

"Police," the second gunman said. "We should show them how serious we are." The third gunman nodded in agreement as he pulled Kyle out from under the table. Kyle squirmed, but was powerless as the gunman dragged him into the kitchen. Kyle closed his eyes as the gunman dropped him.

"Hello, Kyle," came a familiar voice. Kyle opened his eyes to see Eddie Harold standing over him. "Next time you decide to lie tome about you mother, make sure it's something like her age." Eddie and the third gunman pulled Kyle up and dragged him into the black van. The gunman closed the door and retuned to the Burger King, firing two shots into the ground to make it sound as if he had shot Kyle.

Eddie turned to Kyle, who was still in shocked into silence. "In case you didn't realize it, you're under arrest. I'm going to take you back to headquarters where you're going to help me catch your mother, whether you like it or not."

**Boat**

"Sure," Andrew Rayburn told himself as he continued to walk back and forth in the room. "I know that Erik and Darren don't exactly know my skills, but once Dimitri explains my importance, they'll come right back for me. I know it."

Andrew tried to ram the door down, but it remained well barricaded. He never was able to bench press more than one hundred pounds anyways. Andrew resumed walking back and forth, looking around the room for anything that would help him escape, but the only thing in the room besides him was the bed.

Andrew groaned as he plopped down on the bed. He had given up on all hopes of escaping. He knew that he wouldn't be getting out of the room without outside help. Andrew closed his eyes in hopes of getting some sleep, but a loud noise coming from outside interrupted him.

Andrew hopped back up and put his ear on the door. Light tapping sounds came from the outside. Andrew began to breathe heavily as the tapping became louder. Suddenly, another loud bang came. The chair that was barricading the door was no longer there.

"Darren?" Andrew called. "Dimitri? Erik?" There was no answer. Andrew slowly stepped away from the door as the doorknob slowly began to turn. Finally, the door popped open. There was no one there. Andrew pocked his head out the door, only to be instantly charged at by a raptor to his left.

Andrew managed to squirm back into the room and close the door. Andrew held his back against the door as the raptor began to charge. Andrew then noticed a knife resting under the bed. He slid down and tried to reach it with his foot, but it was just out of his reach. He continued to try and reach it until the raptor stopped charging. Andrew took his chance and dove for the knife. At the same moment, the raptor hopped inside. Andrew managed to roll behind him and stab the raptor in the foot, impaling him to the ground.

The raptor began to scream in anguish and Andrew stood back up and ran outside, remembering to barricade the door before dashing off of the boat. "Okay," Andrew told himself. "That raptor won't stay impaled forever. The best thing you can do is find Dimitri and the others." Andrew took another deep breath before walking down the path, not realizing that he had no idea where he was going.

**Piper's Apartment**

Piper Norvell found the view from her fourth floor balcony relaxing. It extended over much of Washington D.C. and even included parts of New Jersey. Piper continued to watch the relaxing scene in front of her until her phone began to ring. "Blake," Piper began. "Any new information?"

"Unfortunately I do," Blake explained. "There was a robbery at the Burger King your son went to. I can't say for sure, but it looks like he may have been killed."

Piper froze in shock. Finally, she managed to ask, "Did you get the security footage?"

"Kind of," Blake explained. "I got the two camera footages from the front of the building and the parking lot out front, but the camera in the kitchen was inexplicably cut off during the robbery. I'll send you the other two anyways."

Blake and Piper hung up their cell phones as Piper slid back into her apartment and opened her laptop. As promised, Blake sent over the footages. Piper began to see what had gone down. Just as the robbers had entered, police swarmed the building. In response, one of the gunmen took Kyle to the kitchen where tow gunshots were heard.

Piper rewound the tape and played it again. "How did the police get there so fast? They must have been waiting around the corner of something." Piper changed to the camera from the parking lot. The only thing Piper saw was the police cars driving up to the building and the police officers coming out of their cars with their guns ready.

Just as Piper was about to change back to the other camera, a message popped up. Piper had an incoming e-mail. Piper sighed and clicked on it.

Piper Norvell:

As of now, the mission is going well. I guarantee you that Noah's Tablet will be in your grasp with the day. And I hope that you keep you end of the deal and keep Isla Sorna alive, even if you have to kill the damn dinosaurs to do it.

Yours Truly,

Dalton Furrelle


	11. The Price of Being a Gibson

Chapter 11: The Price of Being a Gibson

**Bunker**

Too much time had passed in the underground bunker without any sight of human life. Scott and Stephanie were walking down a path that John Hammond had failed to put cameras on. Still, Dimitri, Erik, and Darren refused to give up on their search.

Erik returned to Dimitri's side. "This is beginning to look pointless," Dimitri groaned. "If the DLA has mom, then they're keeping her off-camera. The only way we're going to find her is to go searching for her ourselves."

Erik groaned in opposition. "Kid's got a point," Darren replied. Darren's agreement shocked Dimitri. "Your wife hasn't popped up which means the DLA is keeping a tight watch on her. Maybe we should go looking for her."

Erik shrugged. He knew his friend was right. Erik grabbed a wireless radio off the counter. He turned to his son and said. "If your mother comes up on the camera, call us."

Dimitri nodded and Erik and Darren left the bunker. Dimitri continued to spin around in the swivel chair as he tried to keep an eye on all of the cameras in the bunker. He wanted to go with his father, but he knew that someone should stay in the bunker, and seeing that Erik and Darren were the ones who created the dinosaurs, they were the obvious choices for traveling on foot. Dimitri was still bored. Five minutes after Erik and Darren's departure, Dimitri began to have thoughts of following them outside. He knew it was a stupid idea; he just wanted to be helpful.

Five more minutes passed. Dimitri's eyes were slowly closing until a figure near the bottom of the screen caught his eye. It was defiantly human. "Mom!" he yelled as he jumped at the screen. Dimitri was bitterly disappointed. "How the hell did Andrew get out?"

Staring him back through the camera, Andrew Rayburn was flailing his arms and yelling inaudibly to try and get attention. "Oh my God," Dimitri complained. "If he keeps yelling, he's bound to attract something."

Dimitri grabbed the wireless radio and motioned his finger over the call button. Dimitri paused. "Darren and my dad are busy. There's no doubt that Andrew Rayburn isn't worth their time." Dimitri stood up and tried to make a decision. Meanwhile, Andrew continued to yell at the camera, not knowing that Dimitri couldn't hear a single word he said.

"Someone's got to stop him," Dimitri finally decided. Dimitri glanced one more time at the screen before leaving the bunker as well.

**Interrogation Room**

Eddie pushed Kyle Norvell into the interrogation room with two other FBI agents in tow. "Kyle Norvell," Eddie said happily as he sat down across from Kyle. "I bet you thought you could outsmart the FBI. Bet you thought you could outsmart me. Clearly, you were wrong."

"Not that it matters," Kyle yelled back. "Once my mom finds out what you did, it won't be long until she enacts her revenge."

"I bet she will," Eddie replied. "Still, I'm sure your mother isn't completely heartless, which is why she's going to call you to see if you're okay." Eddie pulled Kyle's cell phone out of his pocket and placed it on a tracer.

"A tracer," Kyle noticed. "I'll have you know that my mother can interpret the tone of my voice. The conversation will be over within the minute, only 10 percent of the time you need to trace the call and I can assure you that she will not call again."

Eddie stared at Kyle in silence. Finally, Eddie spoke up. "How'd you know that the tracers take ten minutes to trace a call?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kyle asked. "The first tracer was invented in the fifties, but took about half an hour to trace. That's common knowledge. The second tracer invented about 5 years later is also common knowledge and cut the time by about 7.4 percent. A third one was developed in 1961, but the amount of time it took was not released to the public. By using the property of growth and decay of percentages, I was able to determine when the latest tracer was developed and using the same system I was able to figure out how long it took to trace a call. Simple stuff."

Eddie sighed before stepping out of the room. He ordered another agent to monitor Kyle and the phone as he took out his phone and began to dial. "Kyle Norvell is a genius," Eddie said instantly.

"Nice to speak with you, too," Dana replied, "but I don't see the problem. As long ass we get his mother, does it really matter what his intelligence is?"

"It might," Eddie replied. "Based on what Benji Madison has told me about Piper Norvell, she's a genius. She was able to predict the actions of her targets and successfully bend people's mind. Kyle's mind is an exact copy."

"So what?" Dana asked. "You act like there's some sort of conspiracy going on. Like Piper and Kyle's mind have been tinkered with to make them the perfect killers."

"Why not?" Eddie asked. "I know it seems farfetched but it's not like any part of this investigation has made any sense yet." Eddie paused. "But if there's anyone who could shed some light on the investigation, it would be the man who orchestrated all of this. Dana, I want you to get down stairs to the interrogation room and give Kyle Norvell an I.Q. test. I'm going to pay our old friend Ramon Avila a visit."

**Piper's Apartment**

Piper continued to relay the video of the Burger King robbery. None of it made sense to her. The police seemed scripted. The gunmen were straight to the point; they executed a hostage, but made no attempt at executing any more following Kyle. It didn't seem natural.

Piper had her cell phone flipped open and kept her finger close to the speed dial button. She motioned her finger closer until it began to ring, Piper sighed and answered it. It was Blake again. "Looks like you were right," Blake explained. "FBI agent Eddie Harold did pay your father a visit. I can't tell what he told him, but it was clearly enough to find Sam and Kyle."

"Thank you," Piper replied. Blake hung up the phone and Piper followed suit. Piper replayed the tape from the parking lot. She rewound the tape to before the robbery as Kyle entered the building. Piper pause it. In the bottom left corner was the front bumper of the black van Eddie was in. Piper fast-forwarded it to see the very same van drive off while the robbery was still in progress.

Piper sighed a sigh of relief. "At least he's alive," she told herself. "Now I just have to save him." Piper stood up and put on a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans. Piper tied her shoes and made sure both her handguns were loaded before leaving the house.

**Trailer**

Dalton sat alone in the first compartment, watching the dinosaurs through the screen in front of him. "The sooner governor Maximoff signs off on the island, the sooner I can get away from these creatures."

Dalton tried to enjoy the eerie silence until the second compartment door opened. Dalton entered to see that Hannah and Morgan had returned from their little side venture. Dalton was surprised to see that Lance wasn't with them.

"Where's Lance?" he decided to ask. Neither Hannah nor Morgan understood what he was talking about. "Scott Green told me that Lance left to go get you. Where is he?"

"Scott must have heard him wrong," Morgan explained. "Only a few feet down the river, the triceratops began to charge away for no apparent reason. We spent the rest of the time sitting next to the river only a few feet from here. If Lance came out to look for us, we would have seen him."

"Scott didn't mishear anything," Hannah accused. "He lied."

"That's a rather brash assumption," Morgan said.

"Maybe not," Dalton interrupted as he looked passed the girls and at the door that led to the third compartment. Dalton walked passed the and slowly opened the door. Dalton growled as soon as he saw Lance's unconscious body tied up to a pipe on the wall.

Morgan and Hannah left Dalton's side and began to untie him. "Leave him!" Dalton yelled in the same powerful voice he had exhibited earlier. "We have a missing governor and a traitorous operative. Lance isn't worth your time. Now, I want you both out there looking for them. Now!"

Morgan and Hannah did as they were told. Morgan and Hannah began to leave the trailer until Dalton called them back. "You forgot something," he said as he tossed them both handguns. "Just in case." Morgan and Hannah turned back to the open field.

Dalton turned back around and returned to Lance's side. "I know you can't hear me, but if your actions run my chances, I will hold you personally responsible."

**Bar**

Max Gibson was getting tied in his search for the missing Benji Madison. He had stopped by his hose, but the agent sent there said he hadn't seen Benji since that morning. Max had then received a call from Mackenzie saying someone had called her from the Hollister Bar saying he had seen Benji talking with another patron.

Max didn't think the tip was any better than the guy who claimed that Jesus changed his oil, but he had nothing better to go on. Max slowly opened the door to the bar, hoping that no one would notice him enter. No one really cared.

Max approached the bar, but the bartender was less than enthusiastic. "I don't know what you've heard, be we don't serve minors here."

"I'm not here for that," Max assured. "I'm looking for Benji Madison. I got a call that he was spotted here. Is that true?"

"No," the bartender explained. "He was sitting right where you're standing. He said his name was Dylan he was talking to another faithful customer of mine. Stan Libowitz. Wait a minute. Who are you and why should I be telling you this?"

"I work for governor Maximoff," Max explained. "Check my ID if you want proof." Max took an ID card out of his pocket and slid it over to the bartender. The bartender glanced at it and slid it across the counter.

"Anyways," Max continued. "I need to know where Mr. Madison and this Stan guy went. Do you know where they went?"

The bartender, for once, actually seemed to be thinking about his answer. "Nope," the bartender finally responded. "Dylan, or Benji Madison, and Stan were talking in hush tones and try not to intrude in other people's conversation. No I think it would be best if you left before someone calls the cops on me for letting a minor inside.

Max smirked and turned to see that someone who was passing by had stopped to glance that Max's ID card that he had left on the counter. "Max Gibson?" he asked. "That wouldn't be the very same Max Gibson whose father soiled the good name of Maryland, would it?"

"I'll have you know that I've been against my father's ideals from the start," Max explained. "I even helped Erik Maximoff and Benji Madison in taking him down. Hell, governor Maximoff employs me."

"Yeah,' the man said calmly. "That may be so, but I can't take the risk that the Gibson bloodline will continue to ruin more lives than it already has." Before anyone in the bar could react, the man pulled out a knife and proceeded to stab Max in the stomach. The bartender immediately hopped over the bar and punched the man in the face.

Max began to gasp for air as blood slowly tricked from his stab wound. "Call an ambulance!" the bartender yelled. Another man, who explained he was a paramedic, knelt down and checked Max's pulse. "Almost nothing," he explained. "If he doesn't get medical attention soon, the kid's going to die."


	12. My Immortal Memories

Chapter 12: My Immortal Memories

**Interrogation Room**

Dana walked down the dark hallway tat lead to the interrogation room. Two other FBI agents stood at the doorway as another one sat in silence with Kyle Norvell. Dana simply walked passed the two FBI agents at the door and entered to room.

"Agent Tomlinson," the FBI agent sitting across from Kyle said nonchalantly. "I haven't gotten any information regarding Piper from the kid and she hasn't made any attempt at reaching him."

Kyle smirked devilishly as the agent spoke. "That's all right," Dana replied. Dana's response immediately wiped the smile off of Kyle's face. "Eddie's working of Piper. There's something else we need the kid for."

The other agent shrugged, but it was obvious he really didn't care. He left the room as Dana sat down. Dana instantly tossed Kyle a Rubik's cube. "In case you haven't noticed, Eddie Harold is interested in how your mind works, more importantly if it can be used for evil, and if your mother has the same intelligence. So, if you don't mind-" Dana abruptly stopped as the Rubik's cube came sliding across the table. It was done before Dana even turned on her stopwatch.

"I can make this fast for both of us," Kyle suggested. "My intelligence is so high that no IQ test will be able to measure it. So, why not just make this simple on both of us and just write down something like 'immeasurable'. How about that?"

"No," Dana shot back. "Mainly because it appears that the IQ test bothers you, and I like to make it my business to ruin yours." Dana took a packet of papers out of her briefcase and slid it over to Kyle.

"I'll be back in ten minutes," Dana informed Kyle. "I should hope that you should have the test done by then." Dana stepped out of the room and turned to one of the FBI agents standing next to the door. "If Kyle winds up getting more than three-fourths of the questions right, I want you to give him the B test. If not, give him the A one. I want you to continue that pattern through all seven tests.

The agent nodded in agreement just before the sound of Kyle pounding on the door filled the hallway. Dana sighed and opened the door. "Done," he said pridefully. Dana took the test from him and handed it to the agent standing next to her. The agent looked over the test. "Agent Tomlinson," he said. "They're all right. I can't be sure until I actually check it, but it looks light a perfect score."

Dana glanced at Kyle, who was smiling ear to ear in pride. Dana began to walk back own the hallway. She took out her cell phone and called Eddie. "Looks like you were right," she said. "Kyle Norvell is a genius. I mean we could be talking two-hundred at least."

"Good," Eddie replied. "I'm only minutes away from reaching Ramon Avila's house."

**Trailer**

It hadn't been long since the girls had left to find the traitorous Scott Green and Stephanie Maximoff. Dalton had not once taken his eyes off of Lance. Finally, Lance began to show signs of life. He began to groan and move his arms a little.

Dalton waited a couple more seconds until Lance began to sit up. Dalton walked over and pulled Lance's head up by his hair. "Had a good nap?"

"Okay," Lance begged. "I can see that you're upset. I would be too if I was in your predicament, but I can assure you that I can find Scott and bring him back here myself."

"No need," Dalton explained, still grasping on to Lance's hair. "Since you looked so peaceful sleeping here, I decided to let Morgan and Hannah go find him. I have a different job for you. If the governor if exposed to the darker side of Isla Sorna, it'll be harder to convince her otherwise."

"I don't follow," Lance replied, wincing from pain.

Dalton slowly let go of Lance's hair before walking over to the door. "You almost ruined my chances to the bank, you ignored my direct order, and you let Scott Green get the jump on you."

"I don't get it."

"I neither need you here nor want you here," Dalton replied coldly. Lance gave a low gasp n shock. Dalton continued. "I'm not the murderous type, so I'll give you a chance to leave. I still need the helicopter, so I want you to take a boat about a mile south from here. Take it to Costa Rica. From there you can go back to New Mexico and we can forget this ever happen."

"You know I can't do that," Lance explained. "I robbed a bank. I'm a wanted fugitive. I can't go back to the United States again."

"Then learn Spanish," Dalton suggested. "You can live a fine life in Costa Rica." Lance couldn't believe he got fired. He was speechless. Lance sighed as he picked up his book and exited the trailer. Dalton stood at the doorway and watched as Lance walked off across the field and into the trees.

Dalton sighed uncomfortably before returning inside and closing the door behind him. "If the girls don't find the governor, I'll have to go to Plan B to keep the island alive." Dalton walked over to the middle compartment and began to type on the computer.

Piper, I lost the governor. I'm willing to get you Noah's Tablet, but I need to know more about it in order to find it.

Dalton Furrelle

Dalton sent the e-mail and stood up. He took another deep breathe before walking over to the wall. He checked himself in the mirror. He had bas under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hair had become unruly.

Dalton one final deep breathe before pulling his fist back and launching a punch at the mirror. The mirror instantly shattered and glass pieces flew everywhere. Dalton ignored the cuts on his hands as he picked up a locket off the table and left the trailer.

**Bank Home Office**

Benji stared out the window of the Chevy Trailblazer as Stan pulled up to the bank home office's parking lot. There was one other former security guard with them who had only identified himself as Bishop.

Bishop was a burly man with a think beard and muscles on his muscles. He didn't talk much, but his voice was scratchy. Bishop was the first to step out and Stan soon followed. Benji was hesitant in joining them.

"We ready?" Stan asked. Bishop nodded eagerly and Benji's head bobbed in moderate agreement. Stan failed to notice Benji's lack of enthusiasm as he began to walk towards the entrance. Stan and Bishop kicked the door open and began to fie their guns into the air, mirroring the DLA's entrance almost exactly.

Chaos soon ensued in the office building. "Shut up!" Bishop ordered. The building quickly quieted down.

"Okay," Stan began. "Now that I have your attention, I'd like al of you to know why I've come here today. My name is Stan Libowitz. Earlier today I had a job. Does anyone want to know what that job was?" No one spoke up. "I'll tell you. I was a security guard at the bank, which was robbed earlier today. I, along with my associates, we ripped out of a job because we were trying to be heroes. Does anyone think that's fair?" Still, no one answered.

Stan continued his meaningless tirade as Bishop walked around making sure everyone was laying on the ground at that no one was trying to call for help. Benji hadn't left the doorway since he entered. About a minute passed and it would seem that Stan had finished his speech. He hadn't he had only paused to get a drink of water.

Just as Stan was about to continue, Benji left the doorway and approached the front counter. "Secretary, he said in the nicest voice he could. "Turn the television volume up." The secretary was confused with the order, but stood up and put the volume up without question. Bishop and Stan stood confused.

There was an anchorwoman in a newsroom with the words "Breaking News" written under her on the screen. "We bring you breaking news. An incident at the Hollander Bar has the entire state in outrage. Channel 12's Molly Long is first on the scene."

The camera switched to a live feed outside the Hollander Bar. "Only a few minutes ago, an fight broke out that left one teenager hospitalized. What makes this incident special is that the victim is eighteen-year-old Max Gibson, son of the late former governor Henry Gibson. Max was instantly rushed to St. Virgil's Hospital. Witnesses say that Max was searching for Acting Governor Benji Madison. Witnesses say that a man resembling the acting governor was seen at the bar only minutes before Max came in. Benji Madison is said to have left in a disappointed mood with another patron named Stan Libowitz, who was prone to violent behavior and has had previous run-ins with the law."

"Max," Benji whispered. Stan was getting infuriated and instantly shot three bullets into the television. Benji reacted solely on instinct as he put his gun to Stan's head. Bishop responded by putting his gun to Benji's head.

"Does Bishop have his gun to my head?" Benji asked sarcastically. "Yes, I believe he does. I guess I'll have to do something about that." Benji let go of his gun and instantly dropped down. Before Bishop could react, Benji grabbed his legs and managed to pull him of his feet while simultaneously kicking Stan in the legs, causing him to fall over as well.

Stan knocked his head directly on the wall. He was unconscious. Bishop wasn't and immediately hopped to his feet. Benji did the same. Neither of the men had guns in their hands. Both were eying the one between them. Benji made the first move, but was knocked to the ground by Bishop. Bishop grabbed the gun and pointed it at Benji. Benji stared at the gun as Bishop cocked it. Bishop didn't get a chance to use it. An employee came from behind and knocked him over the head with a chair.

Both robbers were unconscious. "I pressed the silent alarm," the secretary confessed. The police will be here soon. You should leave."

"Yeah," Benji agreed. "I have a hospital to get to."

**Trail**

Andrew Rayburn was still lost. He had no idea where he was going ever since he left the boat. "Okay Andrew," he told himself, "You made the right decision. The velociraptor was going to kill you. I'm sure that even the great Alan Grant would have done the same. I have nothing to be sorry about. As a matter of fact, I'm sure someone's out there looking for me right now."

Andrew didn't believe a word he had just told himself. Regardless, he had no choice but to keep wandering through the trees. Andrew climbed between two trees, cutting his arm on a branch as he did. Andrew tried to ignore it, but the blood was hard to ignore.

Andrew heard trees rustling. He stopped moving, hoping that the sound had come from him. It didn't. The noise grew louder and had become faster. Andrew was frozen in fright as the noises came closer. Andrew prepared for the worst.

"Don't move!"

Andrew slowly opened his eyes. Morgan Bruer was standing n front of him, pointing her gun at him. Andrew let out his held breath. "I said don't move!" she repeated. Andrew instantly froze. "If you want to live, I want you to do exactly as I say."

"Aw man," Andrew whispered to himself. "She's going to kill me. She's going to kill me."

"Okay," Morgan continued. "When I give you the signal, I want you to drop to the ground as fast as you can. Okay?"

"Okay." Andrew thought it was odd request, but he wasn't in a position to question it. "Wait a minute," Andrew called. "What's the signal?" Morgan didn't respond. "You didn't give me signal! How am I supposed to know to drop down if you didn't give me the signal? I can't do what you want me to do if-"

"Now!" Andrew shut up and hit the ground. Morgan immediately fired three shots over Andrew's head. Andrew heard deep shrills and turned over. I bleeding dilophosaur stood behind him in pain before retreating into the trees.

Andrew was speechless. Morgan pocketed the gun and pulled Andrew to his feet. "You scared me!" Andrew yelled. "I thought you were going to kill me!"

"I know," Morgan replied. "I needed you to think that so you'd start screaming so I could pull the dilophosaur out of hiding."

Andrew was shocked. "That was mean. If that dinosaur did something you didn't expect, I'd be chow by now. By the way, who are you?"

"Morgan Bruer," she replied. "I'm on Dalton Furrelle's team. Whose team are you on?"

Andrew was initially confused by her question, but it wasn't long until he understood why she had asked it. He was still wearing the camouflage worn by DLA members. "Adam Baylin's team," Andrew lied. "Yeah, that's right. Baylin. He landed on the island about half an hour ago. He's been trying to get in contact with Dalton since he landed, but it wasn't working, so he sent me."

"Baylin," Morgan repeated. Sweat dripped down Andrew neck. He was hoping that Morgan wouldn't catch him on the bluff. "Baylin. Can't say I've heard of him, but it's not like I make it my job to known everyone in the DLA. Why'd you come down here? Piper didn't think we could get the job done?"

"Piper? Yes. Piper. That's it. Piper sent us. She wants to make sure that she didn't send the wrong team."

Morgan stood in silence for a few seconds. "Fair enough. I'm supposed to be looking for this guy Scott Green, but I honestly don't care. Come on. Take me over to your trailer."

"Uhhh," Andrew stalled, "I can't do that. You see Adam doesn't want me to return without a status report from Dalton. He also wants me to keep an eye on you guys for a couple of hours and report to him with what I find and he'll report it directly to Piper."

"That's stupid," Morgan shot back, "but to each his own I guess. Let's go." Morgan took the lead as Andrew followed. He hadn't realized how deep a lie he had just gotten himself into.

**Hill**

Stephanie and Scott had finally reached the tall hill. Stephanie was worn out after all of the walking, but Scott was fully energized. Scott looked around for a good place to hide out. "Have I told you that I don't like this plan?" Stephanie chastised.

"Yes Madam Governor," Scott replied sarcastically. "I'm very much aware of your distaste towards my plan. With all due respect, which right now isn't all that much, I didn't think I would need a plan. I expected Marines to be storming the island by now. Did you do something to piss off the army?"

"I did no such thing," Stephanie assured him. "My lieutenant governor-"

"Benji Madison," Scott interrupted.

"Yes," Stephanie agreed. "Benji Madison. He has his hands full with the governor's position and I'd assume that the amount of chaos has flooded him. While I'm sure he's puling out all the stops to get me back, he has other things to deal with as well. We'll be rescued eventually."

"Yeah," Scott said, "we just have to find someplace to hide from the DLA, not to mention the dinosaurs, until they do come." Scott looked for a few more seconds. "And I think I just found a place." Scott pointed down towards what appeared to be an assembly building.

Scott stretched his arms before beginning to walk down the hill. Stephanie soon followed, but something quickly caught her eye. Stephanie stopped walking. "Scott," she called over to him. "We might want to make a little detour." Scott approached Stephanie and was soon seeing what Stephanie was seeing. Dalton Furrelle was walking calmly over to a cliff overlooking a field of grazing stegosaurs.

Scott and Stephanie gave each other looks. They were both thinking they same thing. The duo quickly began to follow Dalton. Dalton arrived at the end of the cliff while Stephanie and Scott hid carefully behind a group of trees.

"Michelle," Dalton mumbled. The name was painful for Dalton to say. "Michelle. If I don't get the governor back, I've lost all hope of preserving your memory. I don't want to forget you, but need to keep Isla Sorna alive. This island is the only thing I have left of you. If I don't find Stephanie Maximoff soon, I've lost you. I need your help in finding her. I don't care if I have to kill every dinosaur on this island to find her, I will find her and I will get her to sign off on the islands. I guarantee it."

Dalton took a deep breathe before wiping a tear off of his cheek. Dalton turned around and began to walk back to the trailer. "Dalton Furrelle doesn't care about the dinosaurs," Stephanie said. "He just wants the island."

"As touching as Dalton's reasoning is," Scott began, "he won't hesitate to kill you if he thinks there's no hope in getting you to change your mind. We have to get you out of here." Scott and Stephanie resumed their walk towards the assembly building while Stephanie glanced at Dalton as he walked into a group of trees.


	13. The Persistence of Hannah Carnivalli

Chapter 13: The Persistence of Hannah Carnivalli

**Interrogation Room**

Kyle Norvell had been left alone for about twenty minutes. He hadn't said a word knowing that FBI agents were listening. He wasn't about to set them off or worse, tip them off to Piper's location. He was keeping quiet.

The eerie silence was piercing and Kyle was quickly finding it hard to wait for anyone to come in contact with him. That would soon change. Kyle was walking back and forth until the door to the hallway finally opened up. Dana Tomlinson came in.

"Where's Eddie Harold?" Kyle insisted. "He seems to be the only one remotely close to finding out any connection between me and my mother."

"He's out," Dana replied calmly. Kyle mentally noted Dana's body language as she continued talking. "Due to your scores on the IQ test, we need to take additional test, so you're being transferred to District command in New York."

"Can you even do that?"

"We can do anything we want," Dana replied coyly. Dana took Kyle by the arm and began to lead him down the hallway. Kyle also mentally noted the lack of handcuffs on his wrist, but decided not to mention it. The duo exited the hallway and took a short walk across an office-like room and into a stairwell. Dana suddenly stopped walking.

"I expected District to seem a little bit more professional," Kyle joked. Dana didn't respond. She only stayed attentive across the hall. On the wall were three doors. One was on the same level as them, one on a higher level and one below them. She was paying attention to all of them.

"How about a little conversation to pass the time?" Kyle asked. Dana still refused to talk. Kyle noted that she didn't even acknowledge his existence. _"Okay Kyle," _he thought to himself. _"This girl is clearly waiting for something to happen at one of these doors. It's barely noticeable, which is why she's putting all of her attention on it. If I plan to catch a glimpse of it, I have to ignore her."_

Kyle pretended as if he was alone and paid close attention to the doors. At first, nothing happened, but after another handful of minutes, a short flicker of lights came from the door in the top level. Dana took a second to thank, as if processing what she had just seen. Finally, she retightened his grip on Kyle's arm and they began their decent through the stairwell.

Dana pushed through the first floor and came out a lobby. Dana nodded at the receptionist before exiting the front doors. She took a sharp turn to the far corner of the parking lot. Just as she approached the driver's side door, Piper Norvell came out of hiding and placed her gun on her head.

"Didn't expect to see you so soon, Mrs. Norvell," Dana said. "This parking will be swarming with agents within the minute so I'd advise you to leave before something gets ugly."

"I can make my own decisions Dana Tomlinson," Piper replied. "Lucky for you I can't afford a manhunt and no one's paid me to kill you, so I'll be taking my son without any casualties. Kyle, I want you to get into the blue Nissan right now."

Kyle did as he was told. Piper pushed Dana in front of her and placed the gun on the back of her head. "After you Dana Tomlinson." Piper pushed Dana over to the car. Piper slid into the driver's seat and told Kyle, "Take the keys out of the glove compartment and turn the car on." Kyle did as he was told.

Piper put the car in drive before giving Dana a smile and hitting her over her head with the gun. Dana fell instantly and didn't stand up until Piper was already out on the street. The receptionist ran outside and help Dana up. "Where's Kyle Norvell?"

"He's with his mother," Dana replied.

"Good," the receptionist replied. "I'll call Eddie and tell him the plan went off without a hitch."

**Trailer**

Morgan and Andrew arrived back at Dalton's trailer only about fifteen minutes after Morgan had left it. Morgan didn't really want to search for Scott. She had barely ever had a conversation with the man and was an ardent supporter of leaving Scott behind after he and Hannah broke up, knowing that it would cause problems. Dalton trusted them to behave like adults and now their plan was in shambles.

Morgan opened the door to the third compartment. She seemed to be relieved that Lance wasn't there. She waltzed over to the computer and logged onto the Internet. "So," Morgan said nonchalantly, "Why'd you join the DLA?"

Andrew was visibly shocked by her question. "What else for? The dinosaurs."

"Liar," she instantly accused. "No one joins the DLA because they care about the dinosaurs. At least no one I know." Morgan spun the chair around before continuing. "You want to know why I'm here?"

Andrew nodded. "I have three brothers," Morgan explained. "All of the older than me. They're all athletic, handsome, smart, and most of all, competitive. Mom and dad were basking in their children's glory. Imagine their surprise to see their fourth child was a girl. Not just a girl. A girl who preferred to read. My parents tried everything to get me into sports like my brothers, but nothing worked. I just kept myself in books. Eventually they stopped trying and virtually ignored me."

"Great story," Andrew jested as he took a seat across from Morgan, "but none of that explains why you're here.

"I'm getting to that," Morgan replied. "Since my brothers were always at some sporting event, I decided to hang out at the library. That's were I met Lance Savarin. He was also an avid reader, but he read for a challenge and not for enjoyment. I told him my story and he introduced me to Dalton. Lance never told me how he met Dalton though. Dalton explained how I could prove myself to my family. I was only nineteen at the time, so I was easily dragged in."

"So that's how you would up here?"

"That's how I wound up here," Morgan replied. Morgan spun her chair back around to the computer. "So, do you have an interesting story, or are you just going to stick with the dinosaur excuse."

"Dinosaurs," Andrew replied, "and it's not an excuse."

"You're still lying through your teeth," Morgan accused, "but I've never been one to pry. Just relax until Dalton gets back and we'll try to contact Adam Baylin."

Even more sweat dripped down Andrew's neck as each second passed. Dalton was the leader. He was bound to know everyone in his organization and it was doubtful that there was anyone in the DLA named Adam Baylin. Andrew needed to think of a new plan. Fast.

**Hospital**

Benji took a deep breathe upon walking through the automated doors of the St. Virgil's Hospital. Benji placed the hood over his head as he approached the receptionist. Benji kept his face hidden as much as he could. "I'm looking for a Max Gibson. I heard he was sent here."

"I'm sorry," the receptionist replied, trying to get a good look at Benji's face. "I can't give out patient information to strangers. You have to be a relative and I'll need some ID to prove it."

"Relative?" Benji asked. The receptionist nodded. "No matter how far he or she may be related to them?"

"Yes," the receptionist replied, "as long as it can be proven."

"Good," Benji said triumphantly as he removed the hood off his head. The other people in the waiting room immediately began to murmur. "In case you didn't know, I'm Benji Madison, current acting governor of Maryland. Also, in case you didn't know, my ex-wife, Governor Stephanie Maximoff, adopted Max after his father's death. Now, what room is he in?"

"520."

Benji left without giving the receptionist a second glance as ran up the stairs to the fifth floor. Benji passed all the other employees indifferently as he arrived at Max's room. Benji pushed the door open to see Max sitting up on the bed without a shirt and his entire stomach wrapped in bandage.

"In all honestly, I wasn't expecting a visitor. It's not like anyone has any time for me right now. With Erik, Stephanie, and Dimitri on Isla Sorna, you missing in action, and Mackenzie trying to keep everything under control at the governor's mansion, no one would have given the assistant a second thought."

"That's not true," Benji assured him. "Unlike when you lived with your father, you now have people who care about you, and because of that, I'm going to stay right here until you recover."

"I'm fine," Max assured Benji, "and in case you've forgotten, you have a state to run. Mackenzie Rosenquist may be smart, but she's dying over there."

"Fine," Benji said, "but there's someplace I've got to stop by first."

**Avila Mansion**

The house seemed different as Eddie pulled up to it the second time. He finished his conversation with Dana before looking up. Now, the mansion seemed wrapped in an aroma of fear and madness. Eddie shuddered as he stepped out of his car and knocked at the door.

Just as last time, Rita answered the door. "Agent Harold," Rita said, slight surprised. Eddie was slightly shocked the Rita was surprised to see him again. Also, the fact that Rita was dressed to leave intrigued him.

"Going somewhere?"

"Mr. Avila's condition has gotten worse in the last couple of hours. I called Ramon's doctor. He said that if Mr. Avila was unwilling to come to the hospital that I should at least come and pick up his medication. I should be back in about in hour."

Rita didn't wait for a response as she began to walk towards the Mercedes at the end of the lot. "Rita!" Eddie yelled before she left. "What's the doctor's name?"

Rita thought for a couple of seconds before replying, "Dr. Jose Colon." Rita pulled out as Eddie entered the mansion. Eddie remembered that many of the lights were on in his previous visit. Now, the only light came from the television in the living room.

"Mr. Avila," Eddie said as he approached him. Ramon slowly turned his chair around and clicked the television off. "I must thank you. You information led to the arrest of your grandson Kyle, who's been in contact with your daughter Piper—I mean Maria. But with Kyle's arrest raises another question. How could Kyle Norvell show off genius level intelligence that mirrors that of him mother's?"

"Coincidence," Ramon immediately replied.

"I tried to make myself believe that, Mr. Avila. I really did. But then I realized that Kyle and his mother have something else in common. Their anger. The willingness to hurt people exhibited by your grandson mirrored that of your daughters again Benji Madison and Stephanie Maximoff one year ago."

"Agent Harold you are too smart for your own good," Ramon warned. "My daughter will feel threatened and it's in her blood to make sure you feel the same."

"In her blood?"

"I suppose I have some explaining to do," Ramon said, "but I want it written and signed by your superior that I will not be prosecuted for what I am about to tell you."

Eddie let out a sigh before called FBI headquarters. "Call Chappell," he ordered. "Get him to sign off immunity for Ramon Avila. Make sure to tell him it's from Eddie Harold." Eddie hung up and said; "now it time to play the waiting game."

**Assembly Factory**

Scott and Stephanie pushed the doors open and began to look around. "Oh yeah," Scott said gleefully. "This looks like a great place to hang out." Scott crossed the room and passed the assembly line to reach the stairwell. "Let's go, Madam Governor. Hitting a little higher ground wouldn't hurt."

Stephanie shrugged in moderate acceptance before joining Scott into the stairwell. The duo climbed up two stories before hearing a noise through the doors. "Oh right," Scott whispered. "I forgot about the dinosaurs. How's about we turn back."

"You mean cut and run?" Stephanie asked. "I'm not a Democrat. I would hate to turn around and run in to Dalton or one of his subordinates and later find out that we passed up a prime hiding spot because of a compy."

Scott shrugged and began to slowly open the door. The door was halfway open, but the sound hadn't returned. Scott slowly slipped inside. He released his held breath. It was just a little compy standing on a table. "It's okay," Scott told Stephanie. "It's just a compy." Scott turned back to the compy to see it hopping uncontrollably. Scott stared at it until it suddenly dashed out of the room. "There's something else!" Scott yelled as he shut the door. A dinosaur suddenly rammed the door and Scott was having trouble containing it in the room.

Stephanie motioned to help Scott, but stopped upon hearing the metal door creak open. Stephanie peered into the main room. Hannah Carnivalli had just entered. "We may have a bigger problem. Your ex-girlfriend is here."

"Hannah?" Scott was distressed. He was trying to formulate a plan, but the harder he tried, the more it began to accumulate into physical pain. Scott winced as the dinosaur continued to ram to door. Stephanie wanted to help, but she had to keep an eye on Hannah.

"Okay," Scott finally said. "I know this may sound cruel, but if Hannah finds us, we're going to have to unleash whatever's in here in order to make a clean getaway."

Stephanie mused over the idea for a few seconds before accepting Scott's plan. Stephanie continued to watch Hannah, hoping she would give up the search. She wasn't. Hannah came closer and closer to the stairwell and eventually stopped as if she heard a noise. Hannah began to follow the noise before staring at the stairwell door. Stephanie gave a low gasp as Hannah began to walk over.

Stephanie climbed the stairs and said, "She's coming." Scott nodded and the two waited for Hannah. Seconds felt like minutes before Hannah finally pushed the door open. Hannah turned around and immediately turned her gun on Scott and Stephanie. "Don't move!"

Scoot and Hannah shared a long stare before Scott jumped out of the way. The door blew open, revealing a dilophosaur. "Venomous carnivore a little taller than raptors," Scott said in glee. "Perfect." The dilophosaur turned toward Hannah and immediately charged at her. Scott and Stephanie took their opportunity to escape to the third floor.

Hannah quickly studied the dinosaur's movements before ducking down. The dilophosaur just barely missed biting off Hannah's head. Hannah bent lower and kicked the dilophosaur straight in the stomach. The dinosaur stumbled back and Hannah unloaded three bullets into it. Hannah fired to more shot to make sure before returning to the main floor.

Hannah noticed another stairwell at the opposite side of the room and was able to hear two sets of footsteps coming down it. Hannah ran towards it as Scott and Stephanie came running out. The duo noticed Hannah and split for the two separate doors. "Freeze! I will shoot!"

"Do as she says!" Scott yelled as he stopped running only a few feet away from the door. "She's a good shot." Stephanie obeyed also a few feet away from her door. "You can only get one of us," Scott pointed out. "If you turn to shoot one, the other will escape."

"Mr. Green has a point," Stephanie added. "Which will you choose? Your loyalties to the Dinosaurs Liberation Association or your need for revenge against Scott Green?"

Hannah didn't seem to have a hard time in her decision. "Stephanie Maximoff," she began she pointed the gun towards her. "You're coming with me." Hannah approached Stephanie and Scott took his chance to escape. Hannah didn't try to stop him. Hannah grabbed Stephanie and said, "Dalton will be very disappointed with your attempt at escape. I hope you don't think you'll be able to do that again."


	14. Animosity

Chapter 14: Animosity

**Trail**

Scott Green stopped running. He had run for about a mile, even though he knew Hannah wasn't chasing him. He just wanted to make sure nothing else was chasing him. Scott still didn't feel safe, but he was out of breath and couldn't run anymore.

Scott rested against a tree as he watched a stegosaurus couple with their child drinking from the river. Scott thought it was nice to watch, any knew that if the stegosaurs felt safe, it was safe for him, too. The mother stegosaurus left a clear opening for her child to drink from, but the child was defensive about moving closer. Scott guessed it must have had a bad experience before.

The stegosaurus child stared at the water before finally lowering his neck. The parents were happy with their child's progress and began to drink from the river as well.

Scott continued to watch the happy couple until he heard footsteps behind him. The sounds were loud, but the stegosaurs hadn't moved from their drinking position. That meant it was either another harmless dinosaur, or a human.

"The only people on the island are DLA members," Scott assumed. "I have to get about if here." Scott stood up and began to walk fast through a group of trees, hoping the other set of footsteps would follow. They were following, so Scott had to formulate a new plan. Scott looked around for a hiding place, but couldn't find one.

Scott had run out of time. The other footsteps began to run, which meant Scott had been spotted. Scott began to run, but the other set of footsteps were well rested and had way more stamina than Scott did.

"DLA!" came a voice. "Stop right there."

Scott stopped, but not because he was told to. It was because he recognized the voice. The person finally caught up to Scott ad immediately tackled him. The person began to kick Scott while he was on the floor. Finally, Scott managed to speak up. "Stop! Dimitri! Stop!"

Dimitri stopped kicking Scott. Scott slowly stood up and Dimitri had a shocked look on his face. "It's me," Scott reminded. "Scott Green."

"Oh," Dimitri replied before giving Scott another punch in the face.

"What the Hell was that for?" Scott yelled as he wobbled back up.

"What the Hell was that for?" Dimitri sarcastically repeated. "What the Hell was that for? I think you know very well what that was for. According to your clothes, you're working for an organization that kidnapped my mother. You know, against my better judgment, I convinced my mom to write a statement that would have given you amnesty if you were ever arrested. I see know that you're rotten to the core and you'll always turn back to the dark side."

"You done yet?" Scott asked rudely. Dimitri shrugged in an indication of a yes. "Good. If you'd like to know, I didn't join the DLA because I'm evil, I joined because I was dating one of their operatives: Hannah Carnivalli. We broke up, but I didn't quit because I knew we were kidnapping your mother. I decided to take it upon myself you rescue her from the DLA. I never believed in what they were doing. I can help you get your mother back, but you're going to have to trust me."

"Fine," Dimitri replied. "I'm not going to rust you, but walking around going nowhere isn't helping. Let's go."

**Street**

The streets of Washington DC were more dangerous than anyone around knew. Piper and Kyle drove carefully as to not draw any suspicion. "What do we do now?" Kyle asked hopefully.

"We head back to my place," Piper replied, "but first we have to destroy any tracking devices they planted on us." Piper pulled a small twig out of Kyle's hair and tossed it out the window. She did the same to herself.

Piper continued to drive until her cell phone began to ring. Piper motioned for Kyle to answer it. "Hello?"

"I'm assuming this is Kyle Norvell," came Piper's associate Blake's voice. "So I guess that means Piper was successful. Great. Tell her I'll start the next step." Blake hung up before Kyle could reply. Kyle explained to his mother what Blake had said, but she seemed indifferent, as if she didn't want Kyle to know what the next step was.

Piper pulled up into a glamorous high-rise apartment building in stepped out of the car. Kyle followed close behind. Piper and Kyle took the stairs up to the eighth floor and entered Piper's apartment. "Now what?" Kyle asked again.

"We watch a video," Piper replied. Kyle hadn't even noticed that his mother was holding videotape. Piper walked over the plasma television against the west wall and popped the tape into the VCR. Piper turned it on sat down on the leather couch. Kyle sat next to her as a black-and-white security footage showed up on screen. Kyle didn't recognize the location, but he did recognize the man that was being filmed.

"Mom," Kyle began in confusion, "why are we watching a video with Henry Gibson on it?"

"Because I killed him," Piper replied. "Or at least my henchman did. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure I can trust his word as I later found out the gun had the same amount of bullets in it as before I gave it to him. He didn't make the shot as he said he did."

Kyle turned back to the television to catch a gunshot ring out and Henry Gibson fall to the ground motionless. Others immediately began to swarm the motionless Henry Gibson. "If your henchman didn't shot Gibson, who did?"

"I don't know," Piper answered her son, "but he was shot from the south, which was the parking lot of the University if I remember correctly." Piper paused. "And if I remember correctly, Benji Madison and Linda Krueger came in from there. Linda Krueger shot Henry Gibson."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that the underground bunker that Linda Krueger was assigned to as an interstate liaison isn't just a normal storage room. It would appear I have unfinished business to handle."

**Docks**

The dock on the south end of the island was the only place devoid of dinosaurs. Henry Wu had made sure that the soil produced toxic agents that would repel any type of dinosaurs. He used it, as a security measure in case of an emergency so there would always be an escape vehicle. Henry Wu never got to use the ship; Lance Savarin had no choice but to use it.

Lance was shoveling his feet in the sand as he approached the small speedboat. He had discarded his masks sometime ago and rolled up his sleeves to avoid the heat. He reluctantly boarded the ship and flipped it on. Lance took a deep breath and took one last stare at the island before putting the small boat in drive. The rudders snapped on and Lance was soon on his way to Costa Rica.

Lance didn't want to look back. He had to look forward. He needed to create a new life if he was going to survive. The thought process wasn't going as smoothly as he thought it would. There was no way he would be able to survive without being eventually found out and brought to justice.

Lance decided to shut the boat off. He needed perfect silence to recreate a new life for himself. Lance began to pace back and forth on the deck until something on the Isla Sorna shore. Lance didn't want to look back, but his curiosity took over.

"No way," Lance told himself. He was looking straight at Darren Sutter's boat. "A search party. There's a search party looking for the governor. Awesome!" Lance immediately turned the boat around and landed next to Darren's ship. Lance stepped off his ship and boarded Darren's. Lance went below deck to see that the room holding that raptor had long since been broken through and the raptor was long gone. Lance explored the lower rooms until he found a wallet left in the closet. It was Andrew Rayburn's.

"Rayburn," Lance contemplated. "Rayburn. I remember. That kid was at the robbery in Annapolis! He was talking to the governor's son. Wait. If Rayburn's here, then so must be the governor's son, and f the governor's son here, who knows who else is here? I've got to tell Dal-" Lance stood in thought for a few seconds.

"I don't think I have to tell Dalton anything," Lance said with glee. "From now on, Lance Savarin works freelance." Lance dashed off of the boat and into the dense forest brush.

**Avila Mansion**

Eddie Harold had been off and on his cell phone for the last couple of minutes. He was trying everything to get to the bottom of the Piper Norvell mystery. He wasn't about to fail now. Eddie continued to argue for his position until he finally received an okay. Ramon Avila would be given amnesty for any crime he admitted to while talking with Eddie.

"I've got it," Eddie explained. "Now I think it's time you told me a little bit more about your family history." Ramon nodded and led Eddie down a hallway and into a little room separated from all the others. Ramon clicked the light switch on and said, "Everything you want to know is in this room, but maybe I should tell you it myself, just to save you a little bit of time."

"I was born in Colombia to Hector and Eliza Avila. Drug lords. I was the youngest of four children. By the time I was eighteen, my siblings and I were trained in the art of drug trafficking. Unfortunately, we were trained a little to well. A rival drug family felt we were getting too strong and planted a bomb in my house. Only my father and I survived. I was on the verge of death and my father decided to give me an experimental and obviously illegal brain surgery. It would allow my body to heal faster and my mind to grow faster, but my ability to distinguish friend from foe would slowly dwindle into nothing."

"Like your daughter," Eddie interrupted.

"Yes, like my daughter. "Ramon rolled his wheelchair over to a shelf and handed Eddie a line graph. He continued his story. "My father decided to graph my growth. He frequently subjected me to IQ tests and came up with a theory. At 100 IQ points, I became violent. When I reached 200, I became murderous."

Eddie checked the graph. The line graph suddenly cut off at 269. "Why does it cut off?"

"My accident," Ramon explained. "Apparently, the rival drug family cut my brake and I was soon in a wheelchair for life. My father clocked my IQ at 269 and also noticed that my behavior had reverted to before the original accident."

"By your daughter is well," Eddie pointed out.

"That she is," Ramon said as he handed Eddie another line graph. It was identical to the first one except that it didn't stop at 269 and that it had Maria Avila written on top of it. I subjected my daughter to my own version of the IQ test. Apparently, when you reach 300, you become genocidal."

Eddie glanced at where Ramon had checked last. "398. What happens when Piper reaches 400?"

"While I won't know officially until she reaches it," Ramon said, "I would have to guess apocalyptic. At that point, the world will end before she reaches the next milestone. I suggest you do something, especially since I hear you clocked Kyle at around 200. I would avoid giving him a gun."

Eddie was speechless. His phone rang before he could think of a response. It was Dana. "Eddie, Piper seems to have found the main tracers, so we're going to have to go with the satellite tracker. We should have her location in a few minutes."

**Trailer**

Hannah Carnivalli was unfeeling as she tied Stephanie arm to same pipe in the third compartment that she and Scott Green tied Lance to only an hour before. Hannah didn't seem to notice Lance was gone and could care less about the two in the second compartment. "Don't worry, madam governor," she said in a fake serene voice. "I'm sure Dalton won't be too terribly upset.

Hannah gave a low chuckled before joining Morgan and Andrew in the middle compartment. They were playing patty cake. Each clap was a shot in Hannah's ear. She was delighted to see someone had made a mistake. "It's left hand then right hand," Morgan explained.

"Excused me?" Andrew said playfully. "You're kidding right? I have five sisters. I am a master at patty cake. Trust me. It's right hand them left hand."

"I am a girl you know," Morgan replied. "Patty cake is game infuse with out DNA. There's no possible way I'm wrong. It's left and then right hand." Both of them smiled, mainly because neither of them had noticed Hannah walk in. That wouldn't last long.

"Who are you?" Hannah asked in the same fake serene voice.

"Andrew Rayburn," Morgan answered for him. "He's from Adam Baylin's team. He was sent here directly from Piper Norvell to oversee our progress." Hannah gave Andrew a stare that made him start sweating again. Andrew was relieved to see Hannah wasn't going to press the issue.

"Because you were too busy playing patty cake," Hannah began, "I had to go out and get the governor myself. If you didn't go back, we would have both the governor and Scott Green in our capture." Andrew had almost forgotten that the DLA had kidnapped Stephanie Maximoff. "Where's Dalton?"

"Out," Morgan explained. "I don't know where and I don't when or if he's coming back." Morgan stopped her sentence as Dalton came through the side door. "Governor Maximoff"

"Safely tied up in the conservatory thanks to me," Hannah explained. The fact that Hannah emphasized the second part irked Morgan. Dalton turned to Andrew and Morgan was about to respond for him, but Andrew cut her off.

"I'm from Adam Baylin's team. Piper sent us directly. I was told to come here for a status update because Adam was having trouble contacting you." Andrew thought it was a little sad saying the same excuse over and over again.

Dalton continued to stare at Andrew before replying, "Normally I'd pursue that, but right now I'm too tired to do anything. I'm taking a nap. I'll call this Adam guy when I wake up."


	15. One Way Left

Chapter 15: One Way Left

**Bird Cage**

Erik and Darren were quickly getting tired of walking. Erik was getting dehydrated but Darren continued to trudge on forward. Darren pointed out the birdcage. They both new it gave them a good view of the area. The two climbed up the stairs and up the viewing room.

"You've got to be kidding be!" Erik complained as he looked out the window to the main trail. "It looks like Henry Wu screwed up again. He made fast growing trees!"

Darren joined his friend at the window. "You're right. Looks like Dr. Wu screwed up our search." Darren paused as he looked around the room. "Over there," he said as he pointed across the bridge. "I think that room has a window, too."

Erik nodded. The bridge was rickety, but it always was. They knew that it was perfectly sturdy. Darren's head was focused straight ahead, but Erik was focused of the group out pteranodons inside the cage. "And to think we spent so much time on these creatures and the only way anyone will ever see them is to risk their lives to come here."

"It's a real shame," Darren replied. Darren's voice was different. He didn't seem to care, which struck Erik as rather odd. They reached the halfway point as Darren suggested, "If there isn't a window in this room, we should split up. Meet back here in five minutes. How about that?"

"I suppose," Erik replied.

"Actually," came a voice from behind them, "It'll be a lot easier for me if you two just stay right there. Make one wrong more and you'll be eating lead."

Darren scoffed. "I might have actually been sacred if you were actually holding a gun." Darren slowly turned around. Erik followed. In front of them Lance stood pretending to hold a gun. "If this is the best Dalton Furrelle has I'm actually a little disappointed."

"I don't exactly work for him anymore," Lance explained a he pretended to put away his gun. "He fired me. So, in retaliation, I am willing to take you to him right now provided that you get your wife to give me immunity."

Lance's smirk soon faded as Erik approached him and picked him up by the collar and held him against the gate. "I can't promise you immunity, but I can promise you pain if you take us a to a trap."

"I can guarantee you Erik-"

"Mr. Maximoff will be fine."

"Of course," Lance replied uncomfortably. "I promise you that your wife will be back in your arms within the hour if you follow my every lead."

Erik slowly released Lance from his grip. "You have got to be kidding me," Darren complained. "He's DLA! Scum of the Earth! Lower than a worms bellybutton!"

"I know that," Erik explained, "but right now he's our only chance."

"I don't think so," Darren replied. "I'm going to check if that room has a window. I'll be right back in a minute."

**FBI Headquarters**

Eddie arrived back at FBI headquarters just in tie to get briefed on the Piper Norvell search. Dana didn't seem to notice Eddie's entrance as she was still focused on the computer. "Dana," Eddie began as he approached her. "You never called me back about Piper."

"My bad," Dana replied, not looking up. "The satellite zoomed in on a penthouse apartment on Bush Avenue. She wasn't home and looked liker she cleared out and won't be coming back." Dana suddenly returned to the computer and began to type and click before returning to the conversation. "We did however recover a videotape she somehow stole from our storage."

Dana clicked another button and the footage of Henry Gibson's assassination flashed on screen. Dana continued. "What I don't understand is why she would want the tape of Gibson's death. As far as she knows Henry Gibson is dead. Right?"

"That's the problem we've been having all day," Eddie replied. "We can't keep assuming she doesn't know stuff the average criminal wouldn't know. Piper Norvell is not an ordinary criminal. If Kyle's IQ score is anything to go on, she's smarter than both of us combined."

"So you're saying she knows Henry Gibson survived?"

"She must have suspected it for a while. If she saw this tape, she must know that Linda Krueger shot him, which means she also knows of the underground prison. She's going to complete what she started. Dana, call the bunker and put them on high alert. I'm heading there right now."

Dana nodded and picked up the phone as Eddie dashed out of the building.

**Bunker**

Scott repeatedly refused to lead Dimitri to Dalton's trailer, knowing full wellthat any attempt at rescuing Stephanie Maximoff would have ended up Just as badly as the previous attempt, probably worse. Scott was a good arguer, and Dimitri finally agreed to take him back to the underground bunker.

Scott's facial expression was one of amazed from the second Dimitri entered the code on the wall to the second they entered the room with the supercomputer. Dimitri sat down on one of the chairs and clipped the camera on. "Dalton's trailer's not on camera," Scott told Dimitri. "He made sure of it."

"That was be assuming he had foreknowledge of the locations of all the cameras on Isla Sorna. You wouldn't happen to know how Dalton got that foreknowledge, would you?"

"I don't know this as fact or not," Scott explained, "but Hannah told me that Dalton's been to the island at least ten times. Hannah never elaborated on why. The fact is that he did and he always went alone."

"So that begs a new question," Dimitri pointed out and he continued to flip through the camera screens, "What was so important that Dalton kept coming here over and over again. You've seen one dinosaur you've seen them all, right?"

Scott glanced at a camera where a T-Rex was engaged in battle with a ferocious team of hungry velociraptors. "I might not be alone in the thought that I would rather have never seen one at all."

Dimitri nodded in agreement. He turned back to the area where human movement quickly passed the view. It was in the birdcage. Dimitri flipped the camera back and the shot of Erik talking to Lance was clearly in view. Darren was still nowhere to be found.

"I wonder what Lance is still doing on the island," Scott mused. "He let the governor escape. Dalton should have killed him."

"It looks more like Dalton fired him," Dimitri theorized. "Based on what I see here, it looks like Lance Savarin is helping my dad. He's probably taking them to Dalton's trailer."

"It won't do any good," Scott said pessimistically.

"It might," Dimitri said. "Darren Sutter has a gun. The only problem is the picture doesn't have a Darren Sutter. You don't think that maybe Darren was-"

"I don't," Scott interrupted. "That's because there's some guy on another camera." Sure enough, Darren Sutter was on another camera just a few feet from Erik and Lance. He had a cell phone in is hands. "Who's he going to call on Isla Sorna?" Scott asked. "I hope he doesn't think we get reception to the mainland with that."

There was no audio on the camera, so there was no way to tell to whom Darren would be talking to, if anyone at all.

**Underground Prison**

Benji Madison removed the hood off of his face as he stepped out of his car. There was nothing around him except trees, except for a little shanty shack. Benji glanced around before entering the shack and opening a door to the elevator. Benji pressed the down button.

The elevator went down two levels and opened to a long hallway with a long series of security, starting with the all-famous metal detector. FBI agents stood at each checkpoint as Benji slowly made his way through the hallway. After about five minutes, Benji made it to the door at the end of the hallway. Benji sighed and opened the door. Inside was a large room with five jail cells. Only one was occupied. "The months have not been kind to you, Henry," Benji said.

Henry Gibson was still as overweight as he had been a year ago. Only now it seemed that it was noticeable. Henry stood up from his chair and approached the bars. Benji motioned for the FBI agent in the room to open the bars. The agent handcuffed Henry before opening the bars.

"You do know I get television down here," Henry said. "I'm not oblivious to what occurs outside. You have a state in turmoil and yet you're paying me a visit. I bet I know. You want advise on how to deal with this problem."

"You still haven't lost your sense of humor, Henry," Benji laughed. "I wouldn't take your advice even if you paid me to." Henry's face remained emotionless. "No, I'm actually here because of something else that happened in Annapolis. What do you remember about your child?"

"She was a good daughter," Henry replied. "I mourn her death everyday."

"That's good to hear," Benji replied. "Unfortunately, it would appear you have forgotten all about your other child." Henry didn't respond. "You remember. Max. That little annoying kid that was always at your house."

Henry's face remained emotionless and he made no motions of responding. "I just thought you should know that Max was seriously injured in an attempt on his life. Do you know why he was attacked? His last name was Gibson. His attacker claimed he didn't want the Gibson gene to infect the world. Luckily, Max will survive, but these kinds of threats will not stop. Max will live in fear because of what you did. Tina got lucky." Benji turned back around and went through the exit.

Benji exited the elevator and approached his car until a thought entered his head. "The agent at Henry's cell," Benji said to himself. "If it's not Eddie, it's supposed to be Nichols. That wasn't Nichols." Benji rushed back to the elevator to see that there were no FBI agents on duty on the security hallway. Benji rushed across and ran through the door.

Inside the fake FBI agent pointed his gun at Benji. On the other side of the room, Piper Novell was aimer her gun at Henry Gibson. "I have an audience today?" Piper asked. "That makes me feel so much better. It's to bad no one who isn't working for me is leaving here alive."

"Piper Norvell," Benji began. Piper was getting upset that everyone already new he full name. "You have to stop. Killing Henry Gibson will bring you nowhere closer to whatever you goal is."

"That's true," Piper said, "but I can't very well continue with my current plan while my pervious plan goes unfinished. I have to kill Henry Gibson. Meanwhile, my agent will kill you." The fake agent cocked his gun was shot before he could fire the gun. Eddie Harold them came running out of the hallway.

"Piper! You're under arrest!"

"I can see that," Piper replied jokingly. "We're in a prison. Eddie Harold, take it you managed to find me with help from my father. Did you ever think of questioning his generosity? I can tell you one thing. It's not just because he's dying. He's trying to take the blame off of himself."

Piper cut off her explanation and returned to Henry Gibson. Eddie coked hi gun. Piper returned to her explanation. "I was born relatively normal. The super intelligent gene was dormant and my father activated it for his own selfish needs. Every crime I committed and will continue to commit will be his fault."

"Who says that you'll be committing any more crimes?"

"The three fake FBI agents standing behind you." Edie lowered his gun as Piper raised hers. She didn't waste anytime in unloaded her entire clip of bullets into Henry Gibson. He was dead. Piper walked over to Eddie and Benji. You two are very lucky. If I didn't need someone to arrest my father, I would kill you." Piper walked through the hallway and left up the elevator. One by one, the other FBU agents followed.

Benji and Eddie came up last, as Piper and her men were already long gone. "What were you doing here anyways?" Eddie asked.

"Personal business," Benji replied. "Looks like you have some of your own to deal with. I have to get back to Maryland. Eddie nodded before getting in his car and driving off. Benji did the same. "Maryland, I'm coming home."

**Trailer**

Dalton Furrelle had awoken from his nap. Andrew knew it was a matter of time before he tried to contact Adam Baylin. Andrew could only lie so much. It was only a matter of time before he was found out, too. He needed to talk to Stephanie.

Morgan was on the computer and Hannah was outside. Dalton was his only obstacle. "Dalton," Andrew began. "I understand that you have Stephanie Maximoff in your custody. I was wondering if you got any closer to your goal."

"I hardly see how that's any of your business."

"I report directly to Piper," Andrew replied.

"So what?" Dalton asked. "What I want out of the governor is none of Piper's business. I'll get her what she wants as soon as I get what I want."

"So your kidnapping of the governor has nothing to do with your employment by Piper Norvell?"

"You ask too many questions for someone who claims to report directly to Piper," Dalton accused. "I think I need to give Adam Baylin a call right now." Andrew new this was coming. He closed his eyes as Dalton entered the first compartment. Just as Dalton was about to turn the radio on, the cell phone on the counter rang.

"Cell phone?" Morgan asked as she left the computer. "If I knew we got cell reception out here I would have called my cousin to tape ER."

Andrew and Morgan stared at Dalton. He didn't seem to be moving for the phone. Finally, after at least a minute of continuous ringing, Dalton answered the phone.

"There is no cell reception on Isla Sorna. I don't know who the hell you are, but I want to now how you managed to call this number."

"Are you really going to tell me that you don't know me?" The voice was clear. It was Darren Sutter. "I just called to let you know that Piper doesn't believe that you will bring her Noah's Tablet. So I'm here to get it for her. I hope you get what you want from the governor because I'm with Erik Maximoff and he knows where t is. Once I have it, I will leave and Piper will owe you nothing."

Dalton closed the door behind him. "Darren," he grumbled. "You can't do this to me. Stephanie Maximoff is ardent in her decision. She won't give me the island. Noah's Tablet is my only chance."

"Too bad," Darren replied. "Piper promised me millions and greed is better than love. Your pathetic excuse for a reason is nothing more than a vain attempt to hang on to what's not there anymore. As soon as I get rid of Lance Savarin, I will be on my way."

Daren hung up. Dalton's heart was beating irregularly. Everything he planned for was quickly slipping through his fingers thanks to Darren Sutter. In order to save Isla Sorna, Dalton had only one option. "If Lance is with them, that means he's leading them here." Dalton shoved the compartment door open, passed Morgan and Andrew, and entered the conservatory where Stephanie was still tied to the pipe.

Dalton took out the handgun and pointed it at Stephanie's head. "You husband is coming. If he wants you to stay alive, he's going to get something for me."


	16. Standoff

Chapter 16: Standoff

**Bunker**

Scott and Dimitri watched as Erik and Lance regrouped with Darren. The spoke for a little while before returning to they walk to Dalton's trailer. They immediately left the birdcage and turn the corner to the north. There was no doubt that they were heading to Dalton's trailer and if Scott was reading the camera's correctly, they should arrive at it in a matter of minutes, granted nothing stood in their way.

"They might have a chance," Scott admitted. "When I started dating Hannah, she told me that Dalton was smart and sophisticated. There's no doubt that he's smart, but I never met the sophisticated Dalton Furrelle. I think Stephanie Maximoff's vote against the island activated something inside Dalton. Like he has some sort of unnatural attachment to the island."

Dimitri watched as the trio continued to walk as he contemplated Scott theory. "Maybe something happened here," Dimitri suggested. "Maybe Dalton did something here that he feels guilty about, and so he come back every so often to make himself feel better, as a kind of retribution. But what happened?"

"I'll find out," Scott said he slid over to the other side of the room. "Isla Sorna was poorly evacuated. No one turned the cameras off. I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to find out what happened to Dalton."

Scott pulled up the archives and wasted no time in beginning to scout through years worth of footage. Dimitri continued to watch Erik, Darren, and Lance approach the trailer. Even though the trailer was off camera, Dimitri noticed a camera that was pointing directly at the trailer, but was completely covered with leaves. The trio was only minutes away.

"That's not good," Dimitri suddenly said. Scott swiveled his head to see what Dimitri was talking about. A group of raptors, five maybe six, were heading towards the trailer from the west. With the human trio coming in from the south, they should arrive at roughly the same time. The raptors would have the prime advantage to ambush them all.

"We have to do something," Dimitri immediately said.

"How?" Scott asked. "The camera's have no audio. There's no way we can warn them. They can't hear us."

"Not from here," Dimitri replied. "You stay here. "This building is the head office. There should be an intercom system." Dimitri leapt out of his chair and left for the elevator. Scott took his seat and watched as the raptors closed in. Erik, Darren, and Lance has five minutes, tops.

Dimitri dashed out of the elevator and began to search the ground floor, but it was just a lobby. A gold plaque rested against the wall that dictated what each floor was for. Most of the floors were for research. Only floor five and the top floor number 9 had their objectives scratched out. Dimitri would have to search them on his own.

Dimitri reached floor five, which was full of conference rooms. He searched them all in vein. A strange noise brought Dimitri into another room. Inside, a lone compy stood on the table. Dimitri knew he had a mission to do, but the compy's eyes were very mesmerizing. Dimitri unknowingly extended his hand and the compy wasted now time in biting it. Now, Dimitri was brought back to reality and quickly threw the compy against the wall.

He returned to the stairwell and ran up to the top floor. The trio was only a minute away from running into the raptor group and Scott was still waiting in the bunker on edge. Dimitri searched all over the top floor, but the search seemed equally as futile as the fifth floor.

Time was running out. Dimitri needed to find it now. The field between Erik, Darren, and Lance and Dalton's trailer was now visible to the trio and the raptors. Dimitri barged through another door. He found it.

Dimitri turned on every button and yelled through the loudspeaker; "Dad! Don't move." Dimitri could hear his own voice boom. Scott was the only person on the island not to hear it, but he could see its effects. Erik, Darren, and Lance stopped dead in their tracks and so did the pack of raptors. The trio was just out of range.

**Trailer**

"Dad! There's a pack of raptors to your right. Don't take another step!" Erik glanced to his right. He couldn't see them, but he knew that they were there. The trailer door opened. Morgan and Hannah stood at the door. They ignored Erik and Darren and sent their piercing glares at Lance. Lance ignored them.

"I want my wife!" Erik yelled at them. "Let her go or things will get ugly fast."

"You're a funny man, Mr. Maximoff," Hannah called back. "If the ominous booming voice is anything to go by, neither of us can step into the field because a specific carnivorous dinosaur will rip us to shreds. You're so close and yet so far."

Morgan left Hannah's side and returned to Andrew. His undercover persona was slowly slipping away. If Erik even got one look at him, everything was over. Dalton would know his lie and throw him to the raptors.

"This is it," Morgan told him. "No doubt Dalton's going to ask for Noah's Tablet in exchange for Stephanie's life. Still, I feel there's too much lying and betrayal going on here. Dalton Furrelle, Stephanie Maximoff, Hannah Carnivalli, Morgan Bruer, Andrew Rayburn, Erik Maximoff, Lance Savarin, and that guy in the brown jacket. One of these people will not make it out of this stand-off alive."

Dalton exited the third compartment with a particular gleam in his eye. He stood at the doorway and made sure he was staring directly at Erik before he made his demand. "I want Noah's Tablet. I give you my word that you will get your wife back if you get me Noah's Tablet."

"You listen here-"

Dalton cut Erik off. "What are you still doing here? I know you know where it is. You can't exactly come across the field and get her yourself. This is your only option. Go and get me what I want and I will give you what you want. Then we can all go on our merry way with no bloodshed."

Erik glared at Dalton, but he didn't really seem to care. He was too busy glaring at Darren. Darren needed to do something to stop Erik from getting Noah's Tablet to Dalton. He couldn't go with his because then the only person watching the trailer would be Lance, and the raptors would quickly take him out. Darren would just have to take the Tablet by force when Erik arrives with it later.

"I'll get you what you want," Erik finally replied. "Don't hurt my wife and most importantly, don't let anyone from your crew exit the trailer. If they do, they'll be endangering everyone inside." Dalton continued to glare at Darren, but nodded in agreement with Erik. It was clear that even though he would do anything to keep the island alive, he did care about his crew, even if just a little.

Erik sighed before turning around. "This won't end good," Lance complained. No one listened to him as Erik turned the corner.

**Avila Mansion**

Eddie Harold was getting tired off being pulled back and forth between Piper Norvell and Ramon Avila. It was a family feud and Eddie was tired of being the note passer. Eddie had no choice but to place Ramon Avila under arrest.

Eddie came up on the curb. There were still the same number of cars in the driveway, but the mansion had a strong sense of abandonment. It put Eddie off. He came up tote door and politely knocked on the door. There was no answer. Eddie tried again but failed to get a response.

He picked the lock and the door swung open. Just as Eddie sensed, the house had been abandoned. Ramon Avila was nowhere to be found. In his search, Eddie found an answering machine in the living room. It defiantly wasn't there on his previous visits. Eddie wasn't sure about it, but decided to check the only message.

I was Ramon's voice. "I can only assume that it is Eddie Harold listening to this. If you have managed to survive my daughter this long, then you deserve to know the truth. This all has to do with an island in the Atlantic Ocean known as Isla Sorna. Due to my daughter's genocidal tendency, she needs an artifact called Noah's Tablet in order to flood the world. The problem is that the island is inhabited with genetically altered dinosaurs created by a company known as InGen. My daughter would have become genocidal eventually. I activated the gene early because of the side effect. My daughter had a deadly fear of dinosaurs. Even the mention of them will make her quake. She had already sent people to get it for her, but all attempts were futile. Now I hear that a former InGen employee was under her employ. That is why I decided to tell the authorities. If this former employee gets the tablet he will hand it over to my daughter somewhere in Annapolis, Maryland. Before you follow me there, my daughter will try to impend your search. You need to protect your family. Good luck Edward."

Eddie listened closely to the static at the end of the tape. "A bomb." Eddie dashed to the front of the building and crashed through the window just as the building went up in flames.

Eddie ran to his car and called Dana. Dana was entering her car just as the cell rang. Her shift ended five minutes prior. "Hello?"

"Dana!" Eddie yelled. "It's Eddie. I think Piper's going after my daughter. I don't have time to explain. My daughter goes to Neil Middle School. She gets out in about ten minutes. Her name is Candice and she's wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans. Go!"

Eddie hung up before Dana could respond. She still had her gun and the school was about a ten-minute drive away. Dana was Candice's only hope.

**Street Corner**

Piper and Kyle had been driving non-stop since Piper completed her unfinished business with the former governor. Kyle knew that they were diving south, but he was unaware exactly how far o5long they had been on the road. "Mom, where are we?"

"Just outside of Annapolis, Maryland," Piper replied. "An associate of mine should be returning with something I've been wanting for quite some time."

"Who?" Kyle asked. "What thing? I don't like being kept in the dark. You being secretive like Dana Tomlinson and the others at FBI headquarters."

Piper sighed. She didn't once take her eyes off the road as she contemplated her response. "Fine," she finally said. "I sent two people to an island called Isla Sorna. They're both there to get me an artifact known as Noah's Tablet. The first one is Dalton Furrelle. I gave Dalton Furrelle my word that Isla Sorna and all the abominations that inhabit it would stay alive."

"So why'd you send someone else?"

"As I'm sure you know, Dalton Furrelle kidnapped the governor of Maryland Stephanie Maximoff. He clearly didn't have enough faith in me so he created his own plan. By kidnapping Stephanie Maximoff, he could get her to convince those in Congress to protect the island as a reserve. If Stephanie Maximoff protected the island, Dalton Furrelle wouldn't need to get me Noah's Tablet. That's why I sent a former employee of InGen named Darren Sutter. He is an old friend of Erik Maximoff, who is the only person with knowledge of the artifact's location. I promised Darren Sutter a large sum of money for it."

"So you believe Sutter will get it for you?" Kyle asked.

"I do," Piper replied. "Whatever happens to Dalton Furrelle is not my concern. If he had more faith in me and just gotten me the artifact in the first place I wouldn't have had to send Darren Sutter. I know Stephanie Maximoff. She won't give Dalton Furrelle the island. I'm sure by now Dalton Furrelle has realized that by now."

"I think I'm starting to get the picture of what's happening on the island. It's basically a race now. Darren Sutter versus Dalton Furrelle. Who can get to the artifact first? Right?"

"Right," his mother replied. "It doesn't matter to me who wins because in the long run, we will be the big winners."

"And what exactly are we going to win in the long run?"

"You'll find out in due time."

**Neil Middle School**

The school was now in view to Dana as she turned the corner, but so was the army of students just getting out of class.If Piper or her men were here looking for Candice, they would surely know what she looks like. All Dana had to go on was a brief description.

Dana pulled into the parking lot and ran onto the school courtyard. No one even closely matching Candice's description was anywhere to be seen. There were at least fifty other adults with Dana in the courtyard. Most were wither teachers or parents picking their children up from school. Any of the remaining could be working for Piper. Maybe even some of the parents were working for Piper.

To the left were a group of girls. They looked popular, so Dana hoped that they at least knew of Candice. "Excuse me," she said as she walked up to them. "Do any of you know Candice Harold?"

"That goodie-two-shoes?" the blonde girl replied. "I paid her to do my homework for me and then she tells the teacher about it. She got us both detentions. I've serving my time tomorrow. There's no way I'm spending fifteen minutes in the same room as that bitch."

"What class? Where?" Dana asked.

"Chill," the blonde girl replied. "Mrs. Spishak. Room 369." Dana left the girls without a second glance. Inside the building, Dana frantically searched for room 369. Every room on the bottom floor was 100s. On the second floor, the rooms were numbered 200 and 300, without a seemingly understandable pattern. She continued to look, turning corners and glancing at the number on the door. Finally, room 369 came into view.

Dana barged inside, but inside was only the teacher. "Candice Harold," Dana asked. "Where is she?"

"I can't give out that information-"

"FBI," Dana interrupted as she flashed her badge. "Now, where's Candice Harold?"

"She left," Mrs. Spishak replied. "Her father picked her about two minutes ago." Dana hit her fist on the door as she began to run all the way back downstairs and back into the courtyard. The courtyard had much less people than before, making things previously hidden by the crowd more discernable. A man was leading a girl with pink shirt and blue jeans into a van.

"Candice!" Dana yelled. The girl spun around. The man who was leading her shoved her into the van and closed the door behind her. He pulled out a gun and began to fire at Dana. The kids began to run sporadically as Dana hid behind a planter.

Dana and Piper's henchman began a shootout, with Dana hiding behind the planter and the man hiding behind the van. The man began to reload, leaving his left shoulder exposed. Dana fired and the man dropped his gun in favor of clenching his arm. With his good arm, the man hit the side of the van three times.. He picked up his gun as the van began to pull away. He began to walk towards the planter. Dana needed to stop the van, so she ignored the approaching man in favor of blowing out the tires.

After three shots, two of the tires were out and the van crashed into a tree on a few inches from making out on the street. Dana turned around to see that the man was right behind her. He cocked his gun, but was shot from behind. Dana looked up the see the school SRO officer with his gun raised.

"Agent Tomlinson," he said as he approached. "I got a call from FBI headquarters alerting me of the situation. Are you okay?"

"Candice," Dana replied, ignoring the officer. Dana approached the van. The SRO officer crept over to the driver side, to see that the driver hit his head on the steering wheel and was unconscious. Dan was on the other side and forcefully opened the door open. Candice was the only one inside.

"Come on," Dana said. "I work with your father,"

"That's what he said," she said confidently as she pointed to the driver. Dana flashed Candice her badge. It didn't seem to convince her, but she knew she didn't have a choice. She jumped out of the van and followed her into Dana's car.

"Call an ambulance for him," Dana told the SRO officer about the driver. "Make sure FBI headquarters is alerted when he wakes up." Dana slid into the driver's seat and called back Eddie. "You were right. Piper did try to get Candice. Chances are they're going to try again so we have to stop Piper Norvell now."

"I know," Eddie replied. "I'm on it. Everything that's a happened today is because of some artifact on Isla Sorna that Piper Norvell is trying to obtain. She's going to pick it up from a former employee of InGen somewhere in Annapolis, Maryland. Washington D. C. isn't safe anymore. You needed to take Candice down here and go to the governor's mansion. I'll call Benji Madison and tell him about the situation."

"Hold on, Eddie," Dana interrupted. "Isla Sorna? InGen? Benji Madison? What the hell is going on here?"

"Benji will explain everything at the governor's mansion," Eddie replied. "All I can say right now is everything that's happening today will end tonight. It can either be very good or very bad and right now, very bad seems to be the more likely candidate."


	17. Connections

Chapter 17: Connections

**Governor's Mansion**

"Vultures!" Mackenzie yelled. "You are all vultures!" She wasn't yelling at anyone specifically, simply at all of the reporters who had been calling for an audience with the Acting Governor. For hours she tried to keep them at bay, but they continued to pester her with calls about Benji's location, especially since he was spotted robbing the bank headquarters.

The desk on the phone rang again. She put her head down, hoping that the sound would go away. Suddenly, someone answered the phone. "Excuse me," Benji's voice came. "I'm sure you realize that we have things to deal with here and I would appreciate it if you stopped calling so we could continue dealing with the current situation."

Mackenzie lifted head with a smile to see Benji handing up the phone and disconnecting it from the wall. "Benji!" she yelled in the delight. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I was busy doing some other stuff," Benji explained. "Right now, Stephanie's life is in the hands of a maniac named Piper Norvell and it's up to us to stop her from getting what she wants. It's something called Noah's Tablet."

"Where is Stephanie?"

"Isla Sorna," came Dana Tomlinson's voice as she entered the office with Candice Harold behind her. "I'm sorry I let myself in, but I'm tired of being kept on the sideline. Dalton Furrelle, on an island called Isla Sorna, is holding Stephanie's hostage. Now that Erik Maximoff is there, he's going to trade her life for the artifact."

"What can we do from here?" Mackenzie asked.

"It would appear nothing," Candice spoke up. "Dalton Furrelle has no prior criminal record, so it would be safe to assume that he will hand Stephanie over as soon as he gets the artifact. Then Darren Sutter will go after Dalton while Erik, Dimitri, and Stephanie escape safely. My dad is going to get Piper Norvell before the artifact reaches Maryland. If Darren has it, then he will most likely sell it on the black market. If Dalton has it, he will mostly likely give it up to police as he will have no use for it without Piper."

"How close is your father to finding Piper Norvell?"

"Not very," Candice admitted. "He knows that Piper is in town to pick up the artifact, he just doesn't know where and when. We need to help him figure that out from here. What do we know about Piper Norvell's actions in the last 24 hours?"

"FBI did intercept some calls," Dana announced, "They were on a scrambled line, but if we can route it through a neutral source, we might be able to trace it. The problem is Piper Norvell's connections have blocked all of the systems in DC and she's probably already done it here in Annapolis too."

The group remained silent until Benji slid over to the computer. "Piper Norvell may have blocked the computer system, but if the computer system is damaged, we can reboot it. All I have to do is purposely put a virus in it." Benji pulled a diskette out from his desk and slid it into the computer. "Piper's going down."

**Trailer**

The atmosphere in the small trailer was getting tighter and tighter by the minute. Andrew was losing hope. Dalton was waiting expectantly, Stephanie was hoping for the best. Morgan was watching Andrew carefully. Hannah was simply hoping Scott had befallen a painful death.

Dalton glanced at Stephanie often, who was simply standing against the wall. Once again, he looked outside at Darren and Lance, and then at the group of raptors who were just waiting for someone to step out and make a mistake. Dalton knew that Darren was a trained InGen employee, and so did the raptors. There wasn't enough brush for the raptors to launch a sneak attack, so Darren would be able to watch their every move. They recognized Darren, so they knew not to try anything.

Dalton knew that if the raptors launched an attack on the trailer, Darren wouldn't protect them. He needed backup. "Andrew," he ordered. "The raptors are prime to attack. We need back up. Call Adam Baylin." Andrew opened his mouth to complained, but the look in Morgan's eye told him not to. She had clearly seen him mad before and was trying to warn him not to anger Dalton. Hannah also looked at Andrew, but made no attempt to warn him of anything.

Andrew stood up and entered the first compartment. He stared at the console before trying to figure out how it worked. Buttons were pressed that did nothing. Finally, Andrew found the radio, but all that was coming was static. A minute passed and still nothing came on the radio. Andrew knew that nothing was going to come. Adam Baylin didn't exist. Still, Andrew hoped for a miracle.

"Did you get him yet?" Morgan asked. "Dalton is getting impatient and I can kind of understand why."

"I'm doing my best," Andrew explained. He continued to try and get a signal, but Andrew wasn't savvy enough with technology to know if he was getting anything.

"There," Morgan pointed out. Andrew stopped turning dials as the signal started to get clearer. Adam Baylin didn't exist, did he? The sound got clearer as Morgan moved closer, slowly sliding her arm around Andrew's. The static finally cleared and the voice on the other end was heard perfectly. "Hello?" It was Dimitri Maximoff's voice.

"Adam Baylin," Andrew said in a fake commanding voice. "This is Andrew Rayburn. I'm standing next to Morgan Bruer, a DLA operative. I have arrived at the Dalton Furrelle's trailer as planned and he has requested for you to bring back up against Erik Maximoff, Adam Baylin. Adam, Baylin, your trailer is still broken down, right?"

Dimitri was shocked to hear Andrew's voice. He assumed Andrew was long gone. Dimitri quickly caught on to Andrew's story. "Of course," Dimitri replied. "Make sure Morgan Bruer tells Dalton that we can't provide him with the back-up he needs." Morgan took her leave and closed the door behind her.

"Okay," Andrew said. "She's gone. Governor's kid, you've got to get me out of here. Morgan said that this standoff is going to be deadly. I don't want that to be me!"

"I hate to say I told you so," Dimitri replied, "but no one ever asked you stow away on the ship. Scott Green and I are monitoring the situation. We're trying to end this without bloodshed, but if you want to be saved, you going to have to work against Dalton with me. I don't trust Dalton. If he doesn't hand over my mother for the tablet, you have to help her escape. If you can get her to safety, I'll find you and get you two to safety."

"I don't know, governor's kid," Andrew complained. "Dalton has guns. If the dinosaurs don't get me, he will. I realize my error. I never even believed in the DLA thing. I just want to go home!"

"Don't worry!" Dimitri insisted. "No one's dies yet today. I have to go. Just do as I say and you'll be fine." Dimitri cut the radio off, leaving Andrew with the tough decision.

**Police Station**

Eddie arrived at the Annapolis Police Station in hopes that they had found Piper's car. They did, but she had already ditched it, along with another car. Piper was jumping from car to car to avoid detection, and it was working perfectly.

Anyone who remotely resembled Piper and Kyle were brought in. Anyone who claimed to have seen Piper and Kyle were brought in for questioning. Everything Eddie was doing was against police protocol, but it needed to be done in order to find the elusive Piper Norvell.

Eddie stood at the line up, watching as Piper and Kyle look-alikes passed by the wall. Many were close, but Eddie had stared both of them in the eyes on separate occasions. He knew what they looked like and none of them were right.

Eddie continued to hope for a miracle. Just as another group was being brought in, an officer entered the room. "There's a call for you in the main room." Eddie didn't want any distractions, but the officer was insistent. Eddie left the room and picked up the phone.

"Agent Harold!" the voice yelled. The voice was oddly familiar to Eddie. "I thought you were trying to find my wife! Now I hear that Maria is a wanted criminal going by the named Piper Norvell! While we're on the subject, where is my son?"

"Mr. Norvell," Eddie replied in an attempt to calm him down. "Unfortunately, everything you heard about your wife is true. Your son Kyle has been in contact with her so he is being pursued as a criminal along with her. I don't mean to impose, but I have no other options. Have you ever been to Annapolis, Maryland? Is there anywhere that might seem familiar to Piper?"

"Lots of places," Sam replied, slightly distressed. "We both attended the University of Maryland. Why would it even matter?"

"Despite Piper's disregard for other human life, she seems to have a high regard for family. She still keeps you in mind."

"I just can't think of anything right now. It could be a number of places. I proposed to her on a beach. We first met at the University. He had our first date at this diner on Druid Boulevard."

"Okay," Eddie interrupted. "I'm going to hand the phone over to another police officer. I want you to tell him every single place that sticks in your mind from your time at the University. We'll send officers to those places. Piper's bound to show up at one of them."

Eddie handed the phone over to the nearest officer and resumed pacing back and forth.

**Apartment**

Piper and Kyle stood at a large apartment complex, all of them three stories tall. Kyle asked his mother where they were going, each time Piper answered differently. The only thing that was consistent was that Piper wasn't telling Kyle anything, just like Dana Tomlinson.

Piper stepped out first and Kyle took his cue to follow. The two walked around the back of the building to another building. Piper entered the hallway with four doors, two on each wall. Piper removed a key from her pocket and opened the first door.

Piper entered first. Kyle cautiously followed. Inside sat Ramon Avila. "Sorry I'm late," Piper apologized.

"Do not be sorry," Ramon ordered. "If you are going to be late, be late with conviction." Ramon looked over to where Kyle stood. "I believe introductions are in order."

"Of course," Piper replied. "Dad, this is my son Kyle." Ramon extended his hand, but Kyle stood still. "Kyle, meet your grandfather, Ramon Avila."

Kyle looked at Ramon, as if trying to remember him from somewhere. He continued to try and get as much information about the man from looking at him before speaking up. "You've never mentioned him. Does he know what we are doing?"

"I know everything that your mother is doing," Ramon answered. "I do not approve, but it means that my father's experiments on my mentality were a success. It was transferred to my daughter and has passed on to you."

"My mother is a murderer," Kyle announced. "She killed Henry Gibson. I'm not a murderer."

"Not yet, grandson," Ramon explained. "You are very close to the point of no return. Once your IQ reaches 200, you will become murderous. You cannot stop genetics. Jose Colon made sure of it."

"Jose Colon?"

"The doctor who did my brain surgery back in Colombia," Ramon answered. Ramon suddenly glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's just about time for me to check myself into the hospital. I want to comfortable when I die. You should know that the attack on Candice Harold failed and Edward Harold has followed you to Annapolis. He will be pulling out all the stops to capture you."

"When have they not?" Piper asked sarcastically. "Let Eddie Harold search. He'll never find me. I will have the artifact and his entire search will come to no avail. The world is my oyster."

"Then allow me to leave it before you destroy it." Ramon rolled himself over to the door, addressing Kyle before closing the door behind him. "Goodbye, Kyle. I am glad I had a chance to see you before I left."

**Bunker**

Dimitri returned to the bunker to carefully watch all of his father's movements. Erik was cleverly avoiding all of the potential traps laid by predators. The lay of the land clearly was not lost on him. "Noah's Tablet," Scott said. "Hannah mentioned it to me, but I never paid any attention to her. I guess I should have."

"Maybe," Dimitri replied. "I've noticed it's become a recurring theme whenever you talk about her." Scott gave Dimitri a confused look. Dimitri continued. "Everytime you talk about Hannah, you always mention that you never actually listened to her. Based on what I know, you were completely devoted to Tina Gibson. I find it odd that you suddenly stopped listening to your significant other."

"Since when do you care about my love life?"

"Since your love life or lack thereof could be the line between life and death in this tense standoff. These gaps in your memory are really not helping."

"You know what's not helping? You interrupting me while I'm trying to filter through years worth of leftover video footage to try and find any sight of Dalton Furrelle or any mention of that Michelle girl he was talking about."

Dimitri chose not to reply. He returned to watching his father, but his eye wandered over to where Scott was watching. He looked at a screen near the top, which was a recent because Andrew Rayburn walked passed it. Dimitri continued to watch it until the recorded image of Hannah Carnivalli, with a gun clenched tightly in her hands, passed by. Dimitri studied the image. The blond hair. The way she walked. Even the jealous gleam in her eye. It all was a strong resemblance to someone else.

"You never loved Hannah," Dimitri accused. "You only dated her because of her uncanny resemblance to that flight attendant Heidi Carroll. Scott didn't reply. "Come on, Scott. You have shown the unbelievable ability to travel the world with very little money. I have no doubt in my mind that you could have found Heidi if you wanted to."

"I didn't want to," Scott finally replied. "Heidi returned to her pampered life in Denver. She doesn't want me there. She doesn't need me there. I should just move on."

"I can't believe you," Dimitri replied. "You're the former government conspirator and you're afraid of asking a girl out on a date. If I wanted her, I would be in there so fast. Scott, are you even listening to me?"

"Not anymore," he replied. "I found out why Dalton has such a connection to the island. Dimitri looked over to where Scott pointed. Both of them watched with utter shock and anguish at the scene before them.


	18. Noah's Tablet

Chapter 18: Noah's Tablet

**Bunker**

"Oh my God," Scott whispered in disbelief. "I can't believe that actually happened. No wonder Dalton's messed up. Who wouldn't be?" Dimitri wasn't exactly paying Scott any attention. He was still shocked at what was in front of him.

After about two minutes, Dimitri finally managed to talk. "Andrew Rayburn. A friend of mine from Maryland who stowed away on the boat. He's undercover on Dalton's trailer. I'll call him back and get this information to him. Hopefully, he can use it to cause unrest with the trailer. As much as I hate to think about it, it could cause at least one of Dalton's operatives to leave the trailer and right into the path of the waiting raptors. Darren's quick on the draw, which is why the raptors haven't made a move yet, but he's not that fast."

Sounds good," Scott commented. Dimitri nodded in agreement before heading for the door. "Dimitri wait," Scott said. "After I left Maryland last year, did Heidi ask about me? What did she do before she went back to Denver?"

Dimitri laughed quietly under his breath before replying. "Yeah. She asked about you." Scott's face noticeably lit up as Dimitri continued. "She always asked me where Scott Brown went." Dimitri chuckled before heading up to the top floor to explain the situation to Andrew.

After a couple of minutes for waiting for the connection, Andrew's whispering voice finally came on. "Please tell me you're closer to getting what Dalton wants. Morgan assures me that Dalton will hand the governor over if he gets the tablet."

"I can't trust that," Dimitri explained. "You know that. I do have something else though. I don't care what you do with this information, but it is very sensitive. What you do with it will change the course of this standoff." Dimitri paused. "Andrew, you've always said you would be helpful. Now is your chance to prove it."

**Trailer**

Andrew cut off the connection after hearing Dalton's story. He walked back to the door and glanced into the next compartment. Hannah was peeking through the windows trying to get a closer look at the raptors. Andrew knew that the raptors were completely out of sight, but it was clear Hannah didn't. Morgan was talking to Dalton, but ended her conversation when she saw Andrew and waved him back in. Dalton left her side and proceeded to enter the third compartment.

"So," Morgan began, "What's the news with Adam Baylin? Is he sending back up? More men might make the raptors back off and make Erik Maximoff go a little faster."

"Not exactly," Andrew replied, still trying to seem forceful and in control. "I need to talk to Dalton."

"Don't," Morgan replied immediately, Hannah scoffed at Morgan's care for Andrew's well being. "I already told you. You don't want to see Dalton angry and you could easily set him off."

"It's important," Andrew continued. "Something Adam Baylin told me."

Morgan was still unsure in her decision, but Hannah was tired of listening to the drama only three feet behind her. "If Mr. Rayburn wants to endanger himself, let him. If Dalton goes off, I'll escape out the back. The raptors will be too busy to notice, I'll hide out for a while, and return for the helicopter." Morgan didn't have a response.

Andrew stepped past Morgan and entered the third compartment. Dalton didn't even glance back. "The girls know better, so I would assume I am speaking with Andrew Rayburn. Leave now and I'll forget about this intrusion."

Andrew began to sweat. Everything that was going to happen on the island was going to be determined by Andrew's actions in the next minute. "I have a message from Adam Baylin."

"He can tell it to me himself when he gets here. If he's not coming, then I don't want to hear anything from him. No leave before you regret it."

Andrew turned his leg to leave. He didn't have the nerve to say anything. Just then, Stephanie Maximoff grazed his view. The picture of leadership and one of the top five governors in the country was clearly losing hope and energy and her survival depended on Andrew. He had to step up. "That doesn't work for me," he said forcefully as he walked over to Dalton before continuing, "Chad."

Dalton gave a low gasp in shock. He was speechless. Finally, he managed to speak. "Where did you hear that name?"

"I'll level with you." Andrew continued. "Baylin didn't send me here to oversee your work. I was sent here to blackmail you. Hand Stephanie Maximoff over for free or your secret comes out. Do we understand each other?"

Dalton was quickly becoming enraged and pulled a gun out and pointed it at Andrew's head. Andrew responded purely on instinct. "Go ahead and shoot me. Morgan has already fallen in love with me so she'll investigate. Then you'll have to kill her. As long as Scott Green continues to live, Hannah will be on edge. Two deaths will cause her to either escape or attack you. Either way you'll be alone, and the raptors will know that."

After a few seconds, Dalton holstered the gun. "How did Baylin find out?"

"I don't answer your questions anymore Dalton," Andrew replied. "You are going to do what I saw. I will be back in a few minutes for a response." A much more confident Andrew exited the third compartment with a grin on his face.

**Governor's**** Office**

Mackenzie had disconnected the phones, locked the door, and sent most of the employees home. Finding any of Piper Norvell's allies was top priority. Benji, Mackenzie, and Max had their eyes glued to the screen. Dana was waiting by the door for the coordinates. Candice didn't care either way. She was enjoying the opportunity to explore a new state, even if it was just a large office.

"How you guys coming over there?" Candice yelled. She didn't get a response. They weren't even close. Candice wandered around the room until the arrived at the bookcase next to the television. She quickly ran through the titles along the bookcase. Most of them were old classics that Erik enjoyed. Finally, Candice came across a familiar book. "State of Fear," she rad as she took the book out. "Michael Crichton is a literary genius."

Candice quickly thumbed through the book until a small note fell out. No one else seemed to notice. Candice picked it up and silently read it to herself. "In case of another InGen emergency, call this number: 555-0976." Candice thought for a second. "InGen owned the island that the governor is on. Whoever this phone number belongs to, he must be able to help."

Candice began walking back to the group into Benji stood up. "I got it," he said. Dana looked up.

Max continued. "Piper's connections are on a different line, so we can easily follow the connections she had previously to her secret ally." Max paused. "And it seems that he's somewhere in Annapolis. Imagine that."

"It looks like everything leads back here," Mackenzie said.

"Except for Ramon Avila," Dana pointed out. "He's still missing. Piper may have gotten to him."

"A five mile radius," Max continued. "He's close. Too close. Now it's only a two mile radius. One mile." Max paused again. "Piper's ally is in this building."

"Where," Dana ordered as she took out her gun.

"Archives room," Mackenzie told her. "Blake Masters runs it. He never comes upstairs, so he should still be there."

"Take me there," she ordered Mackenzie. The two woman pushed the door open and ran down the hall. The came down the stairs and finally through to the basement levels. Mackenzie unlocked the door and Dana took the lead. She walked defensively around the corner, but it was clear that no one else was there.

"I never told Blake he could go home," Mackenzie told her. "He was here before Stephenie's kidnapping. When did he leave?"

"I don't know," Dana replied, "but it doesn't matter. Blake Masters has become the prime suspect. Call Eddie and tell him to send someone over to his house. Blake may be our only lead to finding Piper Norvell before she gets her evil hands on Noah's Tablet."

**Apartment**

Piper was seated on the couch in the living room. She was watching the news on television. The news anchor was talking non-stop about Stephanie Maximoff's disappearance and how police and FBI were doing their best to locate her. They were lying. Kyle and Piper knew by now that Eddie Harold would have pooled all their recourses into finding Piper. Stephenie's disappearance was unimportant.

Piper stood up and entered another room. Kyle sat down on the couch next to where his mother was. Just then, Piper's cell phone beeped. She was getting a text message. Kyle flipped the phone open and read: _Madison found a way to intercept our calls. I have to leave Maryland._

Kyle knew that it was Blake on the other end. Kyle though about handing the phone to his mother, but he was already being kept in the dark about what his mother is going to do with Noah's Tablet. Kyle needed information. He typed back:_ Where are you going?_

After about a minute, Kyle received a response: _I haven't decided. Virginia seems safe for the time being._

Kyle typed back:_ Do you know where I am now?_

Blake typed back: _Of course._

Kyle typed:_ Meet me two blocks south of here. I need to tell you something in person._

Blake replied: _Okay, but make it fast. I want to be out of here by six._

Kyle deleted all the text messages and carefully placed the phone back to where it was before he picked it up. Making sure Piper was far enough away, Kyle opened the front door and snuck out of the apartment.

**Bird Cage**

Erik took a deep breath before opening the cage door. He watched the pteranodons fly as he climbed the stairs to the upper levels. Erik could still remember when the upper levels would have been used for viewing purposes, if they ever opened Site B to the public.

Erik climbed the last step and watched through the open widow as the pteranodons flew. "Majestic," he whispered to himself. "It's a shame that no one will ever be able to see them without risking their lives." Erik cautiously walked across the bridge. It was hardly stable, but Erik managed to get across safely.

He arrived at a seemingly dead end where Erik began to feel the wall for a grove. After ten second of searching, the wall became slightly ajar. Erik pushed it open, but saw only an alter with no tablet on top. "Where could it be?" he asked himself.

Erik then noticed the talon marks on the door. "The pteranodons got in here." Erik turned around and saw where most of the pteranodons were perched. There was a ledge behind them that was accessible by the mountain path. That's where the tablet was.

Erik exited the main path and managed to walk across the cage to the path without being noticed. He walked slowly and defensively in hopes of not being spotted. Pteranodons weren't hungry for human flesh, but they were extremely territorial. Erik made it halfway up the path until be noticed. Erik continued to walk, hoping the pteranodon that notices him would keep flying, but it didn't. The pteranodon came flying in and Erik began to run.

Erik scarcely avoiding the talons. By now, other pteranodons had noticed the scuffle. Erik had no choice by to run for his life. The pteranodons tried to block him in, but the ledge was to narrow for them to land on. Erik kept running, hoping that the fact that they couldn't land would help him get there safely.

The pteranodons weren't going to take Erik's intrusion lying down. One of them flew ahead and began to scratch at the path ahead. He was trying to cut off Erik's path. The path was quickly disappearing and Erik was nowhere near it. Erik looked to he left. There were miles of vines all over the mountain side. Erik grabbed a long one as he reached the large whole. He took his running started and leaped across the chasm. He swung all the way to the other side and landed safely.

Erik was getting tired fast. He was almost there, but he knew he wouldn't be able to run back down as fast. He was out of breath, but he made it to the end. There, among the pile of other treasures the pteranodons had found on the island, was Noah's Tablet. It was square, only about four feet wide. The writing was in a foreign language that Erik didn't understand.

Erik grabbed the tablet, but he could see that the pteranodons had ripped off what was left of the vines and made the chasm bigger. Another pteranodon landed on a nearby branch. He watched Erik's movements in order to plan his next move. He launched his beck down and landed only inched from Erik. Erik took the opportunity and wrapped himself around the top of the pteranodon's beak. The pteranodon flew off the branch and tried to shake him off.

Erik knew he wouldn't be able to hang on forever. Right where another pteranodon flew under him, he let go and latched on the back of another. The new pteranodon new began to fly erratically. The other pteranodon flew down in an attempt to pull Erik off. He misses, and stabbed the other pteranodon in the back. The pteranodon was injured, but wasn't going to give up.

Erik realized the only way he would get off the pteranodon was to go in for a crash landing. Erik, took his hand and began to aggravate the pteranodon's injury. The more Erik pushed, the harder it became for the pteranodon to fly. Finally, when the pteranodon had comedown to a low altitude, Erik took the tablet and stabbed him in the cut. The pteranodon crashed right into the water. The other pteranodons were to busy trying to rescue their fallen comrade to notice Erik swimming safely out of the water and out of the bird cage.


	19. Dimitri's Number and Hannahs Sixth Sense

Chapter 19: Dimitri's Number and Hannah's Sixth Sense

**Governor's Office**

Benji was talking on the phone with the president of the state senate. He was having a hard time trying to explain to him the lie he and Mackenzie concocted to explain Benji's earlier disappearance and the claims that he had helped rob the bank earlier that day. He wasn't believing a word of it.

"Okay," Mackenzie said as she finished the conversation on the phone. "No one is believing a word we are saying. The one time they are actually able to see through a lie, I don't want them to. Bastards."

Benji interjected. "What Mackenzie is trying to say is that he was to go the the capitol building and explain ourself in person in front of the state senate. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's stalling, and Erik should be back with Stephanie from Isla Sorna any time soon. Stephanie can pardon Mackenzie and I and give us a good alibi."

"Fine," Dana spoke up. "Eddie is only his was to Blake Masters' house with a unit of police officers. If Blake really is in cahoots with Piper, then he probably won't be at home, but assuming he's human unlike Piper, he would have left something behind that will help in the investigation."

Everyone had somewhere to go. They were all making their last minute preparations before leaving the mansion. Only Max Gibson and Candice Harold were staying. Dana a told Candice that she would be safe in the building because security was still on alert. Candice knew they didn't need to be. Her attempted kidnapping was only a scare tactic against her father. Since it didn't work, Piper wouldn't waste her time trying again anyways.

Benji and Mackenzie were the first to leave. About two minutes later, Dana left, reminding Candice to stay with Max. After only one minute, Candice remember the possible smoking gun in her pocket. "Max, right?" she asked. Max nodded. "I found something that might me of assistance."

Candice took out the slip of paper and haded it to Max. Max quickly looked it over. "Can't say I recognize the phone number, but InGen is the name of the company that owns Isla Sorna. If this guy knows about InGen, he might be able to help us get the governor back faster."

Max reconnected the phone on the desk and dialed the number. The phone rang, but no one answered. "I guess he's not home," Max said. "Besides, the area code is from New Hampshire. If this isn't a cell phone, he's way too far to help us. Still, we can't give up. Where'd you find this anyways?"

"That bookcase," Candice said. "Since you're Governor Maximoff's assistant, I assumed you would know all of her phone numbers."

"I do," Max replied, "but that's not Stephanie's bookcase. She's way too busy to read and Erik won't read anything publish in this century. He likes the classic. 98 percent of the books there are Dimitri's."

"So," Candice concluded, "Let's assume the guy is Dimitri Maximoff's confidential informant on all things InGen. After the incident last year, why wouldn't he have one? Confidential information are confidential, so answering from an unknown phone number would be dangerous."

"So you think that if we call from Dimitri's cell phone, he might answer." Candice nodded. "And last I checked, Dimitri was still living at his dorm at the University of Maryland. Also if I remember correctly, I'm pretty damn good with a lock pick."

"I call shotgun," Candice said."

"I think not," Max replied. "Why should I take a little thirteen-year-old with me?"

"Because," she said as she swiped the paper with the phone number on it off the desk, "I'm the only one who knows what the phone number is."

Max rolled his eyes and submitted to Candice's request. "Fine. Let's get moving."

**Trailer**

In the middle compartment, Andrew reunited with Morgan and Hannah. Morgan was elated to see Dalton hadn't harmed Andrew, but Hannah seemed even more in tuned to the raptors and their correlation to Lance Savarin and Darren Sutter.

"They're all mocking me," she whispered. "The raptors. Lance. The guy in the brown jacket. They're mocking all of us. What is Dalton handing the governor over for? A slab of stone. We will never get this opportunity again. If we're not going to hold her for a real ransom, then we need to even the playing field. We need to lower their numbers."

"You're delusional," Morgan told her. "You're just upset that Scott got away and that you didn't get the chance to kill him yourself. That's no reason to want blushed. Once Erik Maximoff returns with Noah's Tablet, we'll leave, never to be seen again."

"Lance wants us to die here," Hannah replied. She wasn't talking coherently. Morgan and Andrew seemed worried for her mental safety. "He wants someone to die here just as much as I do. If he wants a fight, I'll give him one."

"Hannah, don't!" Morgan yelled. It was too late. Hannah bolted out of the door and stood in the middle of the field. The only thing keeping the raptors form attacking was Darren aiming the gun at her. "Come on Lance! You've always hated me. You've always wanted to see me die. Now is you're chance to get back at me for what I did to you!"

"You're being foolish, Hannah," Lance replied. "You're so delirious that you're confusing me with Scott Green. You've just put yourself in the path of the raptors. All Darren has to do is lower his gun and the raptors will rip me to shreds.

"You honestly don't remember?" Hannah asked. "I'm not mistaking you with Scott. I did something to you when we first met. Think about it. Are you sure?"

Lance thought about for a couple seconds. Hannah continued. "Think hard Savarin. If you remember correctly, you're going to want to punch me in the face right now.

Lance instinctively ran from Darren's side and launched a punch at Hannah. Hannah easily ducked and punched Lance in the stomach. Lance staggered backwards, but regained composure and swiped his lag under her. Hannah hopped back up and punched Lance square in the face. Lance landed right on his back.

In the process of getting up, he noticed Darren slowly lowering the gun in his hands. Two raptors lunged out of the trees at Lance and Hannah. Hannah pressed a button hidden in her hand, forcefully activating the rope that pulled her back into the trailer. Lance wasn't so lucky. He screamed, but it ended abruptly and sent chills down Andrew and Morgan's spines. Dalton didn't once even peak into the second compartment to find out what happened. Hannah, emotionless, entered the first compartment.

"What did Hannah do to Lance that he would jump into the raptor field?"

"Nothing," Morgan explained. "I don't know much about Hannah's life before I met her in the DLA. I was the last to join Dalton's group. Lance was the first. Hannah and Scott joined together. Dalton told me she was trained by her older cousin the utilize a sixth sense that makes people remember things that didn't really happen. Everyone has the ability, but Hannah's perfected it."

Andrew and Morgan peaked into the first compartment. Hannah had put the DLA mask back one, which no one wore since Stephanie escaped the first time. She was reloading her hand gun and whispering, "Lance is dead. Scott Green, wherever you are, you are next."

**Street**** Corner**

Kyle Norvell had been waiting on the corner for five minutes. He was sure that his mother had noticed his absence already, but for some reason had yet to come looking for her son. He tried to ignore it as he continued to look through the crowd of people walking along the street until someone began to rest on the same street corner as him.

"Get lost, kid," the young man said. "I'm meeting some here."

"Glad to see you didn't forget out meeting, Blake," Kyle replied.

The young man's eyes widened in shock. "Look, if Piper doesn't know you're out here, I don't want to be held responsible. I like living, so I'm leaving."

"Blake Masters," Kyle continued. "I have an IQ comparable to that of my mother's. I can easily find out everything about your life, including where you will be laying low. Information like that would be best kept away from the police. I will keep this information to myself as long as you answer my questions.

"Fine."

"What is Noah's Tablet and what does my mother plan to do with it."

"Piper didn't tell me," he replied. Kyle glared at him with distrust. "Fine. She didn't tell me, so I decided to check it out myself. Apparently, Noah's Tablet is an artifact from Biblical times. It was enchanted with some kind of dark magic. Anyone within a specific bloodline could be able to control it."

"What bloodline?"

"I don't know," Blake replied. "I do know the bloodline is not the same as to bloodline that created it in the first place. My sister is a genealogists and apparently, the so called magician who put the curse on Noah's Tablet was a Chinese soldier named Zhi Wu, ancestor to Henry Wu."

"So Henry Wu used the island as a way to hide the tablet from mankind. What about the bloodline Zhi choose to be capable of using the Tablet? Is it mine? Is it the Maximoffs?"

"No," Blake assured. "Your mother is Columbian and your father has German ancestry. The Maximoffs are Russian and the Governor's ancestry is Danish. While I don't know the name, I can tell you that the bloodline was one-hundred perfect British."

"So why is my mother doing this?" Kyle asked. "If the bloodline is lost, then it's just a slab of stone, right?"

"She doesn't seem to believe so. The tablet's ability to control and even create water must be too great of a challenge to resist. Now I answered all of your questions. I'm leaving. Blake quickly walked back to his car and Kyle began to walk back to the apartment.

Blake tried to rest his heart as he turned the car on. "You won't have to worry about putting it in drive," came Piper's voice from the backseat. Giving information to my son I specifically told you not to isn't a way to survive a business deal with Piper Norvell. Oh well." Blake whimpered as Piper attached the silencer and fired three shots into Blake's head before exiting the car and returning to the apartment.

**Bunker**

"It's official," Scott said after finished his search through the InGen back files. "A kid by the name of Chad Bolton, sixteen years old, stowed away on an InGen transport show with his younger sister Michelle. They were found out and placed in a holding cell by the scientists on the island. As fate would happen, their adventure wound up being on the same day as the incident on Isla Nublar. No one remembered them. Chad and Michelle didn't reappear on camera until a day later, in which everyone had already left and many of the dinosaurs had escaped their paddocks."

"They had no idea what they were getting themselves into," Dimitri interjected. "They were orphans. They hopped from foster home to foster home. Eventually, the realized the foster care system wasn't for them and fled to Costa Rica. Chad eventually got in trouble with the law, so they boarded the first boat they found that they believed was leaving the country."

"It was all an accident," Scott continued. "Everything that happened wasn't Dalton's fault. He blames himself, but he shouldn't. He didn't know what to expect."

"Tell him that," Dimitri explained. "Right now my dad is only about five minutes from reaching the trailer. Dalton will do anything to keep this island alive and even I can sympathize with the man, but he needs to realize that memories are nice, but that's all they are."

Scott silently agreed with his friend. "We're not doing much help here. Once Stephanie is handed over, we meet up with your parents and Darren Sutter. We find a way to get your friend Andrew back and we haul ass on whatever mode of transportation you came in on."

"We better start planning now," Dimitri pointed out. "My dad just turned the corner.

**Field**

Erik Maximoff finished turning the corner, carefully holding on the Noah's Tablet. He had gone to far to retrieve and and he wasn't going to let it leave his sight until his wife was back in his arms. Erik glanced up for a second to see Darren's back turned to him and Lance no longer visible. Walking closer, he could see Lance's shoe in the middle of the empty field.

Erik rushed top Darren's side. "What happened?"

"History," Darren explained. "One of their operatives, Hannah, taunted him into attacking her. They fought and when the raptors launched their attack, Hannah pressed a button, automatically retracting her back into the trailer. She planned his death. Lance didn't stand a chance."

Erik was at a loss for words. Darren looked down at his left hand. He was holding Noah's Tablet. The item that was going to net him millions of dollars from Piper Norvell was only inches away from his hand, but Erik wouldn't let go of it until Stephanie was at his side.

"Dalton Furrelle!" Erik called. "I have what you want. Before I give you anything, I want to see my wife!"

There was no movement from the trailer. Finally, after about two minutes, Hannah casually opened the door. Dalton, with Stephanie by his side, stepped right outside. The raptors in the trees readied for another strike. Darren readied to protect them. "You come to me," Dalton ordered. "Try anything funny, and I'll push Stephanie into the trees. Even your friend won't be able to protect her from the raptor's then."

Erik nodded. He was so close to getting his wife back he wasn't going to risk losing her now. Erik stepped out into the field. Darren assured him that he had his back. He continued to walk across the field until he finally reached his wife. "Stephanie. Are you okay?"

"Where's Dimitri?"

"He's here on the island," Erik admitted. He's safe in a bunker underneath one of the building. We'll go pick him up and get off this island."

"Give me the tablet," Dalton interrupted.

"Not until my wife is safe over by Darren," Erik commanded. Dalton looked over to Darren. Dalton wasn't thinking straight. He needed the tablet, and wasn't going to argue with Erik. Darren would take advantage of the situation and wind up with the tablet. Dalton briefly nodded. Stephenie slowly walked over to Darren's side.

"Now," Dalton continued. "The tablet." Erik moved Noah's Tablet over from his left hand to his right and began to lift it towards Dalton's outstretched hand. Erik stopped as soon as he heard Stephanie scream behind him. He spun around to see Darren now holding Stephanie hostage with the gun still pointed at Erik to make sure the raptors didn't attack them.

"The tablet," Darren ordered. "Give it to me."

"What are you doing, Darren?"

"Give me the tablet!" Darren ordered again. "I'm not a patient man. Hand it over."

"Don't give it to him!" Dalton ordered. "He plans on handing over to Piper Norvell for money."

"Piper Norvell?" Erik asked. "You mean that psychopath responsible for the Gibson incident last year? Don't tell me she has has something to do with this."

"She has everything to do with this," Hannah admitted as she poked her head outside. "We're all under her employ. We're all doing it for different reasons. If you want my two cents, Dalton's reasoning is the most noble, but it's also the most whacked."

"Shut up!" Dalton yelled.

"You can't tell me what to do," Hannah shot back. "As of eight now, I am resigning as a member of the Dinosaur Liberation Association. The raptors are too busy too care about me. I'm leaving before this standoff turns bloody."

Hannah dashed out the back door. Just as she predicted, the tense standoff kept the raptors at bay. "We need to get out of here, too," Morgan told Andrew. Andrew nodded in agreement. Knowing that Hannah would kill them if they followed, Morgan and Andrew took a different route out of the trailer.

"Gibe me Noah's' Tablet!" Darren ordered again. This time, he put the gun to Stephanie's head. The three raptors launched another attack. Erik was already running towards Darren, his fist clenched. Darren ignored Erik in order to fire two rounds at the first raptor headed towards him. Thew raptor hit the ground, bleeding terribly.

The second raptor ran towards Dalton. Dalton jumped back and pulled the trailer door in front of him. The raptor jumped right into it at about thirty miles an hour. The raptor staggered and Dalton wasted no time and kicking the dinosaur in the head. The third raptor stopped in the middle of his launch. He was the scout of the group, clearly the scout. He began to squawk as he turned around and ran off.

"He'll be back with friends in about five minutes, "Erik told Darren. "Even you can't help us then. Hand my wife over and I'll give you the stupid rock." Darren let Stephanie go as Erik raised the tablet. Suddenly, Dalton came from behind and knocked him across the head with his gun.

Dalton picked the Tablet up and immediately ran off into the trees. Darren fired four shots, but none of them seemed to have hit him. Angered, Darren reloaded his gun and began to give chase. Stephanie ran over to her unconscious husband and managed to wake him up. "Are you okay?" he asked. Stephanie nodded. "Let's get back to the bunker. We'll pick up Dimitri and get the hell off of the island."

"What about Dalton and Darren?" Forget about them. Let their greed be their downfall." Stephanie help Erik up and the two returned to the trail back to the underground bunker.


	20. Michelle Bolton and Trinity Truscott

Chapter 24:Michelle Bolton and Trinity Truscott

Trail

It had only been five minutes since Erik Maximoff had successfully rescued his wife from the Dinosaur Liberation Association. Dalton was in possession of Noah's Tablet and planned to give it to Piper Norvell. Darren was chasing him down. Hannah, Morgan, and Andrew were all missing and seemingly lost without any sense of direction. Stephanie told her husband everything that she learned while being held captive. Scott Green, Andrew Rayburn, "Chad", and Hannah's vendetta against Scott.

Erik knew that their time on the island wasn't complete as long as Andrew was still missing. Another minute of walking, two figures came up from a distance. Erik was on edge after the incident with the raptors, but soon found nothing to be scared of. In fact, it was a time of rejoice. "Dimitri!" Stephanie and Erik yelled in delight!"

"Mom! Dad!" he yelled back. Dimitri ran across the field and immediately embraced his parents. "I'm glad you guys are safe. Now we can finally leave."

"Hate to bring down the love fest," Scott interjected, "but we're still apparently missing Andrew Rayburn and Noah's Tablet."

"I'm glad you're safe," Stephanie told Scott, "It's one less person to worry about. Hannah escaped before the raptors attacked the trailer. She already killed Lance Savarin for apparently no reason and she's coming for you. Andrew left with Morgan Bruer. It should be a matter of time until she realizes that he's not DLA."

"And Dalton, too," Dimitri replied. His parents didn't understand. "I know it sounds like saving the bad guy, but Dalton is just as much a victim as mom was. He's a victim of himself. He blames himself for what happened to is sister Michelle."

"What happened?" Erik asked.

"Words don't say enough," Scott explained. You'll have to see the footage of it in the bunker over here." Scott and Dimitri led Erik and Stephanie down the trail and into the building that hid the bunker. Down the elevator, they entered the computer room.

Scott sat down and brought up the security footage. He signaled out the one on the top of the screen and enlarged it. "This took place about a day after Isla Sorna was evacuated. Chad is sixteen. Michelle is fourteen."

Chad and Michelle were in the birdcage. Michelle whimpered in fear ever time the pteranodons flew close to the cage. "Don't worry," her older brother told her. "It's going to be okay. These cages are metal. Nothing breaks metal. We'll be safe here until we can get to the other side."

"What on the other side?" Michelle asked.

"It doesn't matter," her brother replied.

"I want to go home, Chad," Michelle pleaded.

"I know," Chad replied. "I do too."

Chad took his sisters hand as they continued to walk through the observatory. The arrived at a bridge connecting the two observatories. Neither of the siblings noticed the structure holding the bridge up was only partially completed. Chad went on first. He seemed to be having no trouble at all getting to the other. Side. Michelle followed. After about walking halfway, Michelle froze. To her left, a pteranodon came flying directly at the cage. Michelle screamed as the pteranodon grabbed the cage covering the bridge.

"Michelle!" Chad yelled. "Run!" Michelle was still frozen as the pteranodon continued to pull. The lack of a sound structure holding the bridge caused it to sway back and forth with the large reptile. Chad took a deep breath before beginning to walk back onto the bridge for his sister. Suddenly, the only thing holding the bridge up shattered. The bridge unhooked for the opposite side of where Chad was, handing only off the side were Chad was.

The bridge went down ninety degrees and Michelle held on the cage that used to be the wall of the bridge. Chad held on the the observatory floor as he was an equal distance from both cage walls. With the gaping hole at the end of the bridge that now face straight down, neither of the siblings could afford to let go. Michelle wasn't too far from Chad. If he could stretch his arms out and extend his leg. She could grab on. Michelle was short and light for her age, so she could easily climb over Chad and then help him up.

Chad began to weaken his grip on the observatory floor until the pteranodon returned. The creature grasped on to the cage wall and began to shake it even harder than before. Chad kept his grip on the the observatory floor. "Chad!" Michelle yelled. "Help!"

Chad looked down to see his sister slowly losing her grip on the cage. "Michelle!" he yelled to her. It was too late. Michelle had lost her grip and began to plummet thirty stories down into the water below.

**Forest**

Every single human on Isla Sorna was in some kind of panic. Andrew Rayburn was exhibiting the most classic: irrational fear of everything around him, especially knowing that there was something potentially dangerous nearby. Morgan didn't seem as worried, at least not outwardly.

"Everyone should be safe," Morgan assured Andrew. "Dalton can take care of himself and I think I saw the governor return to Erik Maximoff safely. They should be meeting up with their son and leaving on whatever boat they came in on. Scott Green might be with them. I don't know what'll become of Darren Sutter, though. It's not like I care." Nothing of what Morgan was saying seemed to come through to Andrew.

"I'm trying to make conversation, here," Morgan urged. "The least you can do is acknowledge my existence."

"The problem is that you keep talking about how everyone else is going to be okay," Andrew complained. "As much as I hope we all can get off of this rock alive, it's not going to happen and we seem to be the most out in the open. There's no way we'll be able to find a way off this island before everyone else and the most important thing to remember when escaping a deadly creature is that you don';t have to outrun the creature, just outrun the slowest prey."

"That's not going to be us," Morgan replied enthusiastically, "We have Adam Baylin. If Hannah's smart, she'll forget her vendetta with Scott Green and join us there, too."

Andrew had completely forgotten about Adam Baylin. A little white lie that helped him get into good spirits with the DLA is now the only thing keeping Morgan from thinking of a real plan. If she just knew that Adam didn't exist, then they wouldn't have to waste time searching for his nonexistent trailer.

"She's going to find out sooner or later," Andrew whispered to himself as Morgan took the lead. "It's only a matter of time."

Fence

Darren walked along perhaps the only fence still standing on the island, his gun clenched tightly in his hands. Dalton had run passed her and Darren knew it. He just had to find the crevasse that Dalton used to get to the other side. After a quick scan of the lower part of the fence, he realized there wasn't one.

Darren sighed and pocketed his gun as he began to climb the fifty foot fence. The fence was made of metal and years of oxidation had caused it to rust. The actual construction of the fence wasn't perfect to begin with. They were warped and that rust caused the warping to turn into spikes that kept sticking Dareen as he places he hand on the fence. He realized that there was no way Dalton could have climb this without losing so much blood and still be able to hold on to Noah's Tablet.

"Darren Sutter," Dalton said as he stepped out from behind a group of trees. Sure enough, he was on the other side, but how he got there was anyone's guess. His hands didn't have a scratch on them. Darren hopped off the fence and scrambled for his gun. "I don't have Noah's Tablet. If you kill me you'll never find it."

"I have time."

"So do the raptors, and I don't think that scout has forgotten the face or the smell of the man who personally killed two of his comrades. You'd do well to get off this island immediately before the raptors can regroup."

"I don't need to take survival advice from the guy staring down a gun."

"It's just money. What are you going to do with money? You do know what Piper Norvell plans to do with it, right? You won't survive it."

"I was briefed," Darren explained ferociously. "Piper's search is a lost cause. She needs the power of a specific bloodline and what bloodline that is has been lost for hundreds of years. I get 40 million dollars and she gets a worthless slab of rock."

"Let me give her the slab of rock," Dalton pleaded. It was obvious her was at Darren's mercy. "I don't want money. I just want to keep this island alive. I want to keep her memory alive. That is my mission and I'm not going to let anyone get in my way." Dalton gave Darren one more cold stare before dashing off into the trees he came out of.

State Senate

Benji and Mackenzie waited in separate rooms in order to give their stories in front of the Senate Tribunal and Benji wasn't exactly friends with any of them. Benji and Mackenzie agreed to tell the tribunal the whole truth from Dalton's robbery to the current status of the investigation, leaving out the part where Benji was part of a robbery.

The tribunal called Benji in first. He took a deep breath before standing up and following the aide into the Senate room. Three men sat on the board as Benji approached the podium. The man on the left spoke up as Benji reached the podium. " Mr. Madison, do you understand why you are here this afternoon?"

"Yes I do, and might I add that-"

"You may not add anything that was not asked of you," the man in the middle interjected. The man looked towards the man on his left, who continued where he left off. "Mr. Madison, from what I read, you have had quite a day. I feel for the governor's kidnapping and I hope she will be returned safely just as much as everybody, but that doesn't excuse much of what you have done today. Start from the beginning. I want to know everything you know about the Dinosaur Liberation Association their connection to this elusive Piper Norvell I understand made a mockery of the FBI headquarters in Washington and is now here to pick up some artifact."

"Yes, sir," Benji replied. "Piper Norvell was born with a unstopping increases in IQ level thanks to genetic tampering by her grandfather. The dame genetic tampering causes her inhibitions to slowly dissipate as she grows smarter. She somehow learned of the power of the artifact called Noah's Tablet and plans to use it to instigate the apocalypse. She paid Henry Gibson a year ago to protect Isla Sorna because she knew that Noah's Tablet was on the island, hidden there by Dr. Henry Wu. When Henry lost the election, she tried to kill him. She failed and Henry was taken to an underground prison in Washington D.C., where Piper found him earlier today and finished what she had started."

"Where does the DLA fit into all of this?"

"I'm getting to that," Benji replied, irked. "According to Eddie Harold, Piper has a fear of dinosaurs that prevents her from getting the tablet herself, so she hired a renegade dinosaur enthusiast named Dalton Furrelle whose team went with him to the island under the pretense of saving the dinosaurs, but in actuality, they are retrieving Noah's Tablet. Piper, for some reason, felt that Dalton was ineffective so she hired a former InGen employee named Darren Sutter."

"Your day, Mr. Madison," the man on the left said. "I want to know about your day now." Benji's cell phone prevented him from answering. "Mr. Madison, you were instructed to turn off your cell phone before you came in here."

Benji ignored him. "Eddie. Did you find anything on Piper?"

"Maybe. I'm at Blake Masters house with Dana. I found a paper that lists a hospital room at St. Virgil's with the name Jose Colon written under it. I think that Colon is Ramon Avila's alias. I'm about to go check it out."

"I'll meet you there," Benji said as he hung up.

"Mr. Madison," the man on the left of the tribunal yelled. "Come back here right now I will have you charged with contempt of court!"

"This isn't even a court!" Benji yelled back before turning the corner and heading to the parking lot.

Dimitri's Dorm

"It's been months since I've been here," Max said, standing outside Dimitri's dorm room with Candice Harold. "I don't know if I still can pick this lock."

"What's the difference between locks?"

"All locks have a different combination," Max explained as he wedged the pick into the key hole, that why there are different keys for different doors. They have a different ridge pattern." Max finally unlocked the door and pushed it open. "Ladies first."

Candice slowly entered the room. Dimitri's cell phone was clearly visible on the counter next to the computer. She picked it up, only to have it yanked from her hands by Max.

"I'm calling him. Give me the number." Candice handed him the sheet of paper and he quickly began to dial. After two rings, someone one the other end answered. It was a girl. "Talk to me," she said with a peppy demeanor in her voice.

"Is this Dimitri's InGen contact?" Max asked, unsure of himself.

"Forever and always," she said, her voice pattern unchanging. "Trinity Truscott. Oh,. Wait! Shoot! I was supposed to ask you for the password before I told you my name! What's the password?"

"You already said your name. It's Trinity Truscott."

"Forget that! Just give me the password!"

"I don't know the password."

"Neither do I," Trinity replied. Max could tell she wasn't taking any of this seriously. "So, I'm going to take a wild guess that this has something to do with Governor Maximoff's kidnapping. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'll head on down there and met you somewhere in Maryland in about 3 hours.

"Three hours doesn't work for us," Max replied. "We need someone to go down and get Stephanie off that island now before Darren Sutter returns with the artifact!"

"You are a rude you man," Trinity shot back. "You'll take what I give you or you won't get anything. Don't find me, I'll find you, and if I feel like it, I'll find Stephanie Maximoff, too. Goodbye." Trinity hung up. Max sighed and led Candice back out of the room and to the parking lot.

"That was pointless," he complained. "Trinity Truscott was of no help. Let's just get back to the governor's mansion before anyone notices our disappearance."


	21. Extermination

Chapter 21: Extermination

Outside the Bunker

Dimitri, Scott, Erik, and Stephanie stood right outside the building where the bunker was hidden. They had decided to split up and search for Andrew and Dalton, but be back at the building in fifteen minutes regardless. Dimitri pleaded with Scott to stay in the bunker, but he was insisted on helping to make up for his wrongdoings. Dimitri knew he was only doing it to prove he wasn't scared of Hannah.

"Fifteen minutes," Erik reminded the group. "Andrew and Morgan Bruer went west after leaving the trailer. Dalton went south." Stephanie and Erik went south and Dimitri and Scott left west.

Dimitri and Scott continued down the trail until the trail appeared to disappear. More and more trees replaced the trial they were walking on. "We should turn back," Dimitri suggested. "If we go any further, we might not be able to find our back."

"If we go back know, we save ourselves, but we also leave Andrew to die. I don't know him, but if he's your friend, he's my friend, which means we have to do everything in our power to help him. We keep moving forward."

Dimitri reluctantly continued moving forward until Scott raised his hand, motioning for them to stop moving. "You go that way, I'll go this way, we meet back here if five minutes. Go."

Scott began to walk in his direction before Dimitri could respond. Dimitri shrugged and went the other way. Scott walked for two minutes until stopping in a field. Hannah Carnivalli was standing at the end of it. "You say me. I'm glad you came instead of turning around like a cared kitty."

"I'm not a coward," Scott insisted. "You want a conversation, I'll give you a conversation, but if you want a fight, I'll give you a fight."

"Tempting, but I think all I want to do is shoot you dead." Hannah pulled out her handgun and pointed it at Scott. Scott remained motionless, which confused Hannah. Scott had plenty of time and plenty of space to move while Hannah took the gun out, but he didn't take it. Hannah saw a why. They were in Stegosaurus territory and stegosaurus are extremely territorial.

Hannah dropped her handgun and the stegosaurus tail came swooping down on her. She dodged just in time for Scott to tackle her from, behind. "Are you done with this foolishness?"

"On the contrary, my dear Scott," she said ans she kicked him in the stomach, "This foolishness is just getting started." Hannah Hopped back up and got into fighting position. Scott regained composure and did the same. Hannah went in for the first punch. Hannah always did the same move so it was easy for Scott to duck down. Hannah immediately took her elbow and hit him across the face, a move that she had never used until now.

"You're pulling out all the stops."

"And you're holding back."

"Fine," Scott decided. "You want me to stop going easy on you? Then I won't say anything about the stegosaur's tail behind you." Hannah turned around to see the tail coming at her horizontally this time. She tried to duck, but the tail was to low to the ground and hit her anyways. Hannah flew across the field and landed against a tree. The pain was so intense that even Scott could feel it.

"Well, I guess my work here is done," Scott grinned as he turned to walk away. The stegosaur turned around to. He was now facing the injured Hannah. She couldn't stand up and at least one of her arms were broken. She was a sitting duck for the stegosaur to drag out of his territory.

"Curse me for being so kind and giving," Scott whispered as he ran back to the stegosaur's field. The stegosaur reached for Hannah's leg with his mouth until Scott ran between them, his arms spread out wide.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't question my generosity," Scott ordered. The stegosaur looked at Scott for a few seconds. "Look. I don't want to start any problems with a dinosaur and I don't want to go back to Maryland or Georgia in a casket where my tombstone would read "Here lies that guy who was killed by a vegetarian." I just want to take my friend out of your territory to safety. Can you understand that?"

Scot didn't quite understand what was going through his head. Why could a dinosaur understand humans? Domesticated animals can to an extent, but that's becuase they have a had social interactions since birth. When was the last time this stegosaurus saw a human? Suddenly, the stegosaur began to nod his head. Scott smiled and began to pick Hannah, her only good arm slung across his shoulders and limping on her good leg.

"You didn't have to do that for me."

"Yeah," Scott replied. "Yeah, I did."

**Boat**

Dalton had hoped that he lost Darren back at the fence. He took the path he knew Erik must have taken to arrive safely at the trailer and it was only a short time until he found the boat still tied to the dock that Darren, Erik, Andrew, and Dimitri arrived on. Dalton give Isla Sorna a good wave goodbye before boarding the ship. "I'm sorry to all of you left on the island, but I did not ask you to follow me. My mission it to protect Michelle's memory and that is more important than any of you."

"How touching," came Darren's voice from behind him. Dalton made a quick 180 to find himself staring down Darren's gun again, but this time there was no fence and Noah's Tablet was clearly in his hands. Darren's hands were red and bloody. He couldn't find the hole in the fence and he actually climbed it. "I'm a nice guy. You know that, so you can give me the tablet and I'll let you walk off this boat alive. You can go back and take the helicopter."

"Only Morgan knows how to fly it, and chances are she took it already."

"Well, then," Darren continued, cocking his gun, "It looks like that makes your job harder. I'm sure you can find a boat somewhere here or better yet, you can find the governor and plead for mercy and see if they'll take you home."

"If I don't go home with this tablet, I don't go home at all."

"That can easily be arranged. I will count to three. If the tablet isn't on that table by then, I will shoot you, you will fall off the edge into five feet of water and you'll most likely drown unless you can figure out someway to salvage yourself." Dalton didn't move.

"One." Dalton didn't even flinch. "Two." Dalton still remained motionless. "Three." Dalton still showed no signs of moving, so Darren pulled the trigger and the bullet zoomed out of the barrel and right into Dalton's shoulder. Just as Darren predicted, Dalton tumbled over the rail and into the water, dropping the Tablet on the floor. Darren didn't even bother to check on how well Dalton was doing as he was already turning the boat on, turning it back around towards Maryland.

**St. Virgil's Hospital**

"Lieutenant Governor Madison?" the woman at the reception desk ask. "Weren't you here earlier to see Max Gibson?"

"Yes I was," he replied candidly. "Now I'm here with FBI agent Eddie Harold to see a man named Ramon Avila. He's checked himself in today."

"No one by that name checked in today."

"He's using an alias," Eddie continued. "Jose Colon. Is he here or is he not?

The receptionist looked through the logs on the folder on her desk for a moment. "Yes he is. He is staying in room 284." The receptionist led Benji and Eddie down the hallway, up the elevator, and down another hallway, and into a room. Ramon Avila was on the bed inside and he didn't seem all too happy to either either of them.

"This is kind of like cheating," Ramon said. "You are supposed to catch my daughter on your own merit. You can't just keep coming to me for more clues. It insults your intelligence."

"Does it really?" Eddie asked. "Because my intelligence says that you know more about Piper's plan, past, and more importantly, current location than you've already told us. Start talking or I will get a court order to start unplugging some of these fancy machines.

"You should know by now that my daughter is waiting in this city. You would not be here if you did not know that. You know she has returned to this city to pick up Noah's Tablet from the former InGen employee Darren Sutter or Dalton Furrelle, which mean the most likely spot is at a pier.

"That's too obvious for Piper," Eddie pointed out, "Still, I have FBI and local police scouting out all the ports in Annapolis and Sutter's home town of Bethesda. We also have his wife detained, but the DA is breathing down my neck to let her go becuase she hasn't committed a crime."

"You're reaching," Ramon pointed out. "Piper is right under your nose and you are completely missing her.I know where she was, but she has already left it by now knowing that I would come here after visiting her. It's apartment 135 at the Chandler Plaza."

"Benji, call Dana and have you meet her there. I'm going to call the judge and see if I can do anything else to Mr. Avila so he can spill some more beans."

**Trail**

"The trailer's not here," Morgan observed. "Adam Baylin. You said his trailer was here. It's not here now. Where is it?" Morgan groaned. "I guess Adam caught wind of the situation over at Dalton's trailer. Well, whatever happened, it means we have no other choice but to return to the trailer and get back on the helicopter before those raptors come back."

"We can't!" Andrew yelled. "Those raptors must a have a tight perimeter around the area now. We left everything behind. The raptors know someone will be bound to come back for something. I don't want that to be us."

"We have no other choice," Morgan replied sternly. "Unless you have any other ideas, the helicopter is our only way off this island before the other dinosaurs pick us off little by little. Let's go."

Morgan took the lead, but after a few second, turned around, noticing that Andrew wasn't behind her. He was still standing in the same spot, seemingly brooding over an idea. Morgan didn't want to waste any more time than they had already wasted. "Let's go! If you don't have another plan, then we have no choice. We have to take the chance."

"It's not our only chance!" Andrew blurted out. Morgan looked at him with extreme interest. "I lied to you. I'm not from Adam Baylin's team. Adam Baylin doesn't exist. My name is Andrew Rayburn. I'm a junior at Adams High School in Annapolis, Maryland. I snuck onto Erik Maximoff's boat becuase I sympathized with your cause and wanted to join you, but I changed my mind after finding out none of you even cared about the dinosaurs."

"Andrew, what are you saying?"

"I got into contact with Dimitri Maximoff about an hour ago and he told me about Dalton Furrelle's past, which I used against him, causing the raptor attack. I caused it so that the helicopter is off limits, but we still have the boat I came in on. If we can find the governor, she'll take us back with her. I'm sure of it."

"I'm not going to jail," Morgan replied. Her words and demeanor were now almost exactly like Lance Savarin when Dalton fired him. "My parents don't know I'm here. I plan to keep it that way. Either I go back on that helicopter or I don't go back at all. I'd rather die in some foreign land than have my name tarnished on the Bruer family tree."

"It's not worth it, Morgan. You have to go home safely."

"Good bye, Andrew," she said solemnly as she she ventured back into the wooded area from which she in through.

**Street**

Kyle hadn't said a word in over half an hour. Every single word that came out of Blake Masters mouth was still resonating in his mind and he couldn't fathom how deep his mother was in on all of it. It was so far fetched, but he knew how smart his mother was. If there was a way to make that Tablet work without finding out whee that necessary bloodline is, she would figure it out.

Piper was behaving almost equally. She saw great promise and intelligence in her son as they drove down the street, which became the only thing she feared in the entire mission. He was smart enough to organize a meeting with on of her lackey's without her knowledge. No one had ever done that before. Now he knew almost everything about Noah's Tablet and he was both smart enough to put it all together , and yet no evil enough to use it for sadistic reasons.

Kyle's expression was one of disgust towards his mother. The day had rapidly changed him and now he wasn't sure who to trust. He knew he wasn't going to trust the FBI. Eddie Harold had already proven to him on two separate occasion how little he cares for the Norvell family's well being and is only interested in the bottom line. Dana Tomlinson seemed to him passive and indecisive. His mother was the only person he knew with a clear plan of action and he was finding himself disagreeing with it.

"Where are we going?"

"You should know that by now," Piper replied to her son. "After talking with Blake Masters, you should know everything. As a matter of fact, why don't you tell me where I'm going."

Kyle sighed in boredom and disappointment. "We're going to meet up with either of Dalton Furrelle or Darren Sutter, whichever one has the Tablet. Unless either of the them try anything funny, you'll pay them what you promised them. Dalton you trust to be honest with you, but he would rather go one way in his own mission than this. Sutter is more likely to retrieve it, but is also more likely to double-cross you."

"And what am I going to do with it?"

"You're going to flood the world becuase you're a sadistic bitch like that."

"Goos," his mother replied, pleased with his answer. "Soon, you'll learn to be one, too."


	22. Regroup and Retreat

Chapter 22: Regroup and Retreat

**Trail**

The Maximoff family waited by a tree specifically chosen by Erik for Scott to met back up with them as soon as he completed his search. For some strange reason, no dinosaur ever passed that specific tree while Erik worked for InGen and the same unnatural law still held true that day. The Maximoffs, especially Stephanie, were getting impatient. Scott was late by five minutes already and Erik new how defensive most herbivores on the island could get if someone intruded on their territory.

"He's not coming," Stephanie said sadly. "It's too bad. He's done so much for me—for all of us, really."

Dimitri sunk his desperation. He didn't want to believe it, but his mother made much sense and his father wasn't disputing it. Dimitri suddenly looked over his right shoulder to see Scott's silhouette coming down the down-trodden path.

"How could you ever doubt me?" Scott yelled as he approached the family. Dimitri was pleased to see his friend again, but was sorely disappointed to see that the body slumped over Scott's shoulder wasn't an injured Andrew Rayburn. Hannah Carnivalli was still bleeding as Scott arrived and sat her against the tree. She had already fallen into unconsciousness and was in dire need of medical attention.

"You were supposed to find Andrew!" Dimitri yelled. "Instead you went off to look for your ex-girlfriend?"

"Glad to see you're safe, too," Scott complained. "I didn't look for her, idiot. She was still hunting me down. I took pity on her and brought her back. I couldn't find Andrew. I'm sorry about your friend."

"Scott's right," Erik added. "Andrew's been out on his own for about an hour now. Most people wouldn't be able to survive that long on their own without an dinosaur knowledge."

"Andrew isn't just a normal kid!" Dimitri continued to protest. "He's dedicated his life to learning about dinosaurs for the DLA and he isn't alone He's with Morgan Bruer, who I can assume is handy with a gun."

"Then all we can do is hope Morgan Bruer protects him and they find their own way off the island." Erik continued to try and convince his son, but none of it was working. "Dimitri, we don't have a choice. If we continue to search for Andrew, we are leaving ourselves open to attacks from raptors with revenge on the brain. If we don't get back to the boat, we will die."

"Both Darren and Dalton know where our boat is," Stephanie added. "Whoever has the tablet will take our ship back before we can get to it."

"You're already too late," came Dalton's constrained voice. The only thing about the Dalton Furrelle that stood before them that even resembled life was that he was still able to talk. His face was pale, he was limping on his left leg, dried blood was all over his shirt, and he wasn't even notably breathing. "Your only chance is to take the helicopter from the trailer."

"You're kidding, right?" Dimitri asked. Dalton gave him a grave look as if that statement offended him. "Listen, Chad. We know the raptors are just waiting there for us. You're not going to do your last minute effort to try and kill us."

"Listen to yourself!" Dalton yelled. Despite being on death's door, Dalton's voice was still able to be commanding. "Does any of that even make sense? You know who I am. My name is Chad Bolton. You know what happened to my sister. You know I don't care about the dinosaurs. You know that I have no reason to live if Darren delivers the tablet to Piper becuase your mother will just sign off on the island and everything I have work for will be for naught. I have nothing to lose!"

"Then why are you sending us to our deaths?"

"One more person will die today," Dalton managed to cough out. "I will distract the raptors long enough for you to get to the helicopter."

**Apartment**

A full sweep of the apartment that Piper and Kyle were just in led to nothing. Dana Tomlinson was fatigued. She hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and was almost falling asleep on the couch. Benji was having flashbacks to his brief partnership with Piper one year ago. Piper didn't need sleep and Benji was going to have to learn to go without it as well if he was planning on catching up to her in time.

"Pack it up," Dana told the police crew. "There's nothing here. "At this point, our best bet is to set up road blocks around the city." Dana stood up and noticed that Benji was still fixated on finding some clue to Piper's whereabouts.

"I'm not leaving," he reminded them. "You guys can go on ahead, but I'm sure I can find something. Piper is barely human, but she is human at least a little bit. She must have made a mistake somewhere. And if not here, perhaps her son. He's new to murder. Maybe he forgot to wash his hands."

"If they slipped up," Dana began, "it wasn't here. Let's go."Benji ignores her and flopped onto the couch. Dana rolled her eyes as Benji pressed the power button on the remote control. Benji tried again. He opened the back compartment to see the problem: the batteries were facing the wrong direction, with the negative side touching the negative side and the positive side touching the positive side.

"That is a clue," Benji pointed out as he flipped the television on. There is no way a teenager could have waited her without the temptation of watching television. There is no way he couldn't have fixed this himself. Kyle did this himself either to throw us off the track or put us back on it."

"What are you talking about?" Benji pointed to the television screen. It was a soap opera and both Benji and Dana didn't think of Kyle as one who would be interested in soap operas. It was another of his clues. "It's set in a hospital," Dana pointed out. He may be saying that Piper is going to visit her father."

"She won't," Benji replied. "Eddie's there with an army of police waiting in the lobby to take her down. She's a good shot, but she's not that fast. There has to be something smaller in this that we're not seeing." The two continued to watch the show as most of the police officers shuffled out of the apartment.

On the show, the main character was preparing for surgery. Benji began to take notes. His name was Doug and was dating another doctor named Marissa, but was having an affair with Marissa's twin sister Gloria, a nurse at the same hospital. Benji noted the decor as well. The walls were bleach white and the doctors wore green and purple scrubs. Finally, anything they said was jotted down.

Benji was racking his brain with his notes, trying to figure out what Kyle could be trying to tell him. It could be everything, but it could be nothing. Dana ignored Benji and his notes and began to remember her conversation with Kyle—how she spoke to him and more importantly, how he spoke to her. She finally figured it out.

"You're thinking too hard," Dana started. "Kyle Norvell thinks we're idiots, so if he's going to leave a message, it's not going to be hard. This show is called St. Thomas. There is a St. Thomas Hospital in Bethesda, where Darren Sutter lives. Kyle is telling is that it's where she's meeting Darren Sutter to pick up the tablet."

Benji had a sour look on his face as he shut the television off and ripped up his notes. "Well then why didn't he just leave a note?! Come on, we have a long drive ahead of us."

**St. Thomas Hospital**

The Norvells have been sitting in the waiting room for over half an hour. Piper had stopped telling her son about the plan with the hopes that Kyle would stop asking questions and just blindly obey her every whim from then on. With the death of Blake Masters, that choice was not an option for Kyle. She wasn't going to get any answers from Piper, at least not from her mouth. Kyle was going to have to read body language to figure out why they had been waiting here for over thirty minutes with no result.

His mother's cell phone was off. Kyle figured this out becuase Piper always keeps her phone on vibrate in public, but would them put it in her pocket so she could tell if it were ringing or not. It was still in the pouch looped around her waist. There was a phone on the counter where the receptionist was sitting. Two people also sitting in the waiting room had already used it, meaning it was a public phone. Piper was waiting for a call, most likely from Darren Sutter or Dalton Furrelle.

Piper glanced at the clock at the wall, meaning that Darren should have called by now. Throwing caution to the wind, Piper remained silent in hopes that Darren was only delayed and not killed by the dinosaurs or worse yet, captured by the Maximoffs. The last thing Piper needed was the governor of Maryland hot on her tail, especially with the persistent Eddie Harold.

Kyle stood up. He now knew what Piper was waiting for and he needed to formulate a plan of his own to keep up with Piper's ever-calculating mind. Kyle approached the receptionist. "Can you point me to the bathroom, please?" The receptionist pointed back through the doors and left. Kyle thanked her and entered the doors. He could tell his mother was giving his a cold stare.

Kyle ran his fingers across the wall. The phone, he saw, was connected to an outlet on the wall that his fingers were now on. Kyle remembered the pattern that receptionist was typing before she pointed him to the bathroom. She was on a chat room, which means the computers are connected to the internet. Kyle continued to follow the walls in hopes of finding the main server that connected all the computers.

The bathroom was now far behind him, so Kyle was in danger of being caught by some doctor and getting thrown back out to the waiting room. None of the rooms were the server he was looking for and he was beginning to worry that the hospital was using a transverse server, which can power the entire hospital. Running the entire computing system on one server is not ideal for a hospital, but it seemed likely. Desperate, Kyle began opening random doors that had no labels on them. Finally, when all seemed lost, Kyle came upon the the main server.

Back in the waiting room, the call that Piper had been waiting for finally came in. The receptionist answered the phone. "St. Thomas Hospital. How can I help you?"

"My name is Darren. I'm looking for a woman named Maria Carsivo. Is she in the waiting room?"

"The receptionist put her hand on the receiver and looked out at the waiting room. "Excuse me, is there a Maria Carsivo here? There's a call for you."

Piper stood up and took the phone. "It's good to speak with you again, Darren. I want to hear everything."

Kyle was still frantically trying to connect himself to the server before he missed any more of the conversation. Finally, Kyle disconnected a wire and rewired it into his cell phone. After pressing a couple more button on both the server and his cell phone, Kyle was tapped into the phone called. Piper's voice was clear. "I want to know the status of everyone on the island before you left."

"If you insist," Darren's voice replied. "Last I saw of them, the Maximoff family was safe. They were regrouping, but I took their boat, so they should be still stuck on the island. I'd like to see family bonding get them out of that one. Some kid named Scott Green left with the Maximoffs and these two other kids named Morgan Bruer and Andrew Rayburn left out the back of the trailer. That was about two hours ago. Some other kid named Lance Savarin was taken down by the raptors."

"Furrelle!" Piper interrupted. "I want to know about Furrelle! What's his status?"

"Dalton Furrelle is dead," Darren replied confidently. "I shot him and he tumbled off the ship and into the water."

"That's it?" Piper asked. "Chad Bolton is resilient. One bullet and a little cold water will not stop him. If he cant deliver me the tablet, he is going to make sure one way or another that you do not. Get to the meeting place as soon as possible. I will head there myself as soon as my son gets back here from pretending to be in the bathroom. Right, Kyle?" Kyle didn't respond, but it didn't matter., There was no denying that Piper knew that he was listening in on the entire conversation. Kyle hung up and returned to the waiting room. "I will make sure you don't get away with this."

"My dear Kyle," she began as she lead the way outside. "Like a general, I have planned out my next hundred moves in advance, including back-up plans for each of them. I have already won."

**Lost**

At this point, Morgan Bruer was fighting herself rather than any kind of physical enemy. The raptors had a bigger enemy to contend with and Morgan was much more formidable than any other dinosaur that inhabited the island. She had a plan on how to get the helicopter and avoid the raptors, but she already forgot it, realizing that she was lost and was not going to make it to the helicopter, anyways.

She was fighting her own consciousness, trying to stay sane. With very little chance of survival at this point, any argument with her subconscious would wind up in an easy defeat. As time progressed, Morgan's consciousness began to manifest itself into more solid forms.

"It's actually kind of funny," her subconscious began, taking on the form of Lance Savarin. "When you thought Andrew Rayburn was a DLA member, you had no trouble following his every whim. You took to his leadership much more than you took to Dalton. Don't get me wrong. I won't be the first one to say I enjoyed all of Dalton's decisions, but I'd be lying if I said I'd rather listen to Andrew."

"Andrew is intelligent," Morgan defended. "You is a smart kid and you and Hannah would have been smart to follow his lead when he challenged Dalton's authority. I could tell that from the minute I met him, he knew what he was talking about."

"He didn't know anything," her subconscious replied, now in the form of Hannah Carnivalli. "He was a liar from the start. The only thing he was truthful about was being unable to protect himself from the dinosaur without your protection. He was jut cowering in the corner until he got into contact with Dimitri Maximoff and Scott Green. At that point, he just repeated everything Dimitri told him to say until you guys escaped."

"Andrew had guts. I'll admit that he didn't have the intelligence to think the plan up on his own, but he had the courage to execute it and the nerve o stick through such a complex lie without cracking. You have to at least give him credit for that, right?"

She was now looking at the representation of Scott Green. "I think not. Andrew Rayburn was just some kid infatuated with the DLA. He had no choice but to go along with the lie. He was afraid of what would happen if he deviated. He blindly listened to Dimitri becuase he didn't know what to do."

"You're not giving him anything? He didn't do anything? Are you telling me that I made the biggest mistake in my life to listen to this kid? That he didn't know anything? That I was an idiot for even acknowledging his existence?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," her conscious as Dalton replied. "You were just as scared and confused as he was, so you clinged to him to make yourself feel better. You convinced yourself of his intelligence where there wasn't any. You weren't cut out for the DLA and since you pushed Andrew away when he was being honest, you will die here."

Morgan stopped walking and sat down against a tree. The realization finally hit her. Sooner or later, she was going to die. "This didn't have to happen." her conscious reminded her. She looked up to see it in the figure of Andrew Rayburn. "Why didn't you just trust me? You trusted me this whole time, so why did you push me away now?"

"Because you were being you. I was never interested by Andrew Rayburn, high school student and occasional vandal. It was Andrew Rayburn, confidant lieutenant to Adam Baylin and overseer of Dalton Furrelle on Piper Norvell's wishes. That's why I listened to."

"That Andrew never existed. You were always listening to some high school kid. You just didn't want to accept that. Face with the truth, you ran. You are going to die."

"And it';s your fault!" Morgan jumped up and launched a punch at Andrew. Being a figment of Morgan's imagination, Morgan's punch went through Andrew and she stumbled to the other side of him. "It's your fault that I'm lost and it's your fault that I'm going to die here! I followed you out of that trailer and I listened to your lies until it lead me nowhere but at death's door. It's your fault!

"You can't blame me for what you should have figured out yourself! I was a lying kid. You fell for it and because of that, you deserve to die." Morgan launched another punch with the same result as before. "Deep down, you know that I'm right." Another punch and another stumble.

Andrew walked over to the left side of Morgan. "Your family will be ashamed of you. Not becuase you were a criminal, but becuase you failed at being a criminal. You're family will be ashamed to know such a failure!? Morgan's anger was now at it maximum capacity. She began to wildly swing at Andrew as he continued to take baby steps backwards. Morgan threw herself at Andrew, falling straight threw him and down a steep hill.

Morgan fell face fist into the side of the cliff and began a painful roll down the hill until she finally came to rest at the cliff's bottom. She had broken so many bones in the fall, she had lost the ability to stand up. Her muscles ached to the point that she fear excruciating pain if she so much as tries to move a finger. Just then, an ominous sound came from the North. There was no mistaking it. A helicopter was coming for the rescue. Morgan was in too much pain to even raise here arm, so trying to get the helicopter's attention was out of the question. She had lost her chance of survival as the helicopter flew passed the trees. All Morgan could do now is laugh maniacally she she though about Andrew while the compies began to surround and pick apart her body.


End file.
